Philippines races to contain spill after oil tanker capsizes off Manila

A Philippine-flagged tanker carrying 1.4 million litres of industrial fuel oil sank off Manila on Thursday, authorities said, as they raced to contain a spill. One crew member of the MT Terra Nova was killed when the tanker capsized in Manila Bay, nearly seven kilometres off Limay municipality in Bataan province, as it sailed to the central city of Iloilo.

The vessel went down in rough seas as heavy rains fuelled by Typhoon Gaemi and the seasonal monsoon lashed Manila and surrounding regions in recent days. An oil slick stretching several kilometres has been detected and the Philippine Coast Guard was preparing to apply dispersants and deploy floating barriers to contain the spill.