Philippines: Guimaras Oil Spill – Aug 2006

At around 16:00 hours on 11 August 2006, the Depot Manager of Petron-Iloilo reported that Motor Tanker Solar I with a crew of 20 on board capsized due to weather and sea conditions approximately 16 nautical miles southwest of Guimaras Island. The exact location was N 10 15.31' E122 29.09' (13.3 nautical miles south of Lusacan Point, Guimaras) and it sunk to a depth of 640 metres. The tanker was chartered by Petron Corporation, the country's largest oil refiner, from Sunshine Maritime Development Corporation to transport 13,000 barrels, or 2,067,000 litres, of industrial fuel oil or bunker oil, from Lamao, Bataan to Zamboanga City. 18 crewmembers survived while two were reported missing. The tanker spilled more than 200,000 litres of oil.

46 barangays were affected in six municipalities: Nueva Valencia, Sibunag, San Lorenzo and Buenavista in Guimaras and Ajuy and Concepcion in Iloilo. The total number of families and persons affected increased from 5,100 families (25,301 persons) to 6,156 families (30,531 persons). (OCHA, 5 Sep 2006)