MANILA: A diesel oil spill spread a large reddish stain over Manila Bay in the Philippines’ capital on Friday, posing potential health and environmental hazards, authorities said.
A fuel tanker is suspected of having dumped half a million liters of diesel into the country’s busiest waterway on Thursday, said coast guard environmental protection chief Commodore Joel Garcia.
“I cannot say that we have contained it because it has affected so wide an area,” he told reporters.
“There have been reports of cases of people going to hospital from difficulty of breathing due to the fumes coming from this oil.”
Oil containment booms were deployed while government experts are checking the impact on marine life, Garcia said.
The 300-square-kilometer slick was drifting toward the mouth of the bay Friday, Garcia said.
About 20 kilometers of coastline near the capital Manila has been affected, he added.
Asis Perez, head of the fisheries and aquatic resources bureau, said he has banned the harvesting and sale of shellfish from these areas until further notice.
“Fuel should not be ingested by people,” Perez said in an interview over radio station DZBB.
Garcia said the coast guard decided not to use chemical dispersants as they would poison the water, opting to let the fuel evaporate. He could not say how long this would take.
The 34,000-barrel-capacity M/T Makisig and its crew have been detained and its owners will be made to pay for the clean-up if it were proven that it indeed had caused the spill, he added.
Additionally, the crew could face criminal charges unless there were “mitigating circumstances” that led to the release of the fuel into the water.
“Fuel samples taken from the shoreline and from the ship are quite identical,” he said.
The tanker’s owners, Herma Shipping and Transport Corp, could not be reached for comment on Friday.
The tanker had earlier unloaded fuel at a Petron terminal in the town of Rosario near Manila, the oil refiner said in a statement.
“According to initial information, the leak may have come from the vessel but this will have to be investigated further,” it said in a statement, adding its pipeline was intact.
“Diesel is not a persistent oil and will easily disperse, so there is no danger to the environment and the local community,” it added.
Philippines oil spill turns Manila Bay red
Philippines oil spill turns Manila Bay red
Cambodia takes back looted historic artifacts handled by British art dealer
- The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodian officials on Friday received more than six dozen historic artifacts described as part of the country’s cultural heritage that had been looted during decades of war and instability.
At a ceremony attended by Deputy Prime Minister Hun Many, the 74 items were unveiled at the National Museum in Phnom Penh after their repatriation from the United Kingdom.
The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia.
“This substantial restitution represents one of the most important returns of Khmer cultural heritage in recent years, following major repatriations in 2021 and 2023 from the same collection,” the Culture Ministry said in a statement. “It marks a significant step forward in Cambodia’s continued efforts to recover, preserve, and restore its ancestral legacy for future generations.”
The artifacts were described as dating from the pre-Angkorian period through the height of the Angkor Empire, including “monumental sandstone sculptures, refined bronze works, and significant ritual objects.” The Angkor Empire, which extended from the ninth to the 15th century, is best known for the Angkor Wat archaeological site, the nation’s biggest tourist attraction.
Latchford was a prominent antiquities dealer who allegedly orchestrated an operation to sell looted Cambodian sculptures on the international market.
From 1970 to the 1980s, during Cambodia’s civil wars and the communist Khmer Rouge ‘s brutal reign, organized looting networks sent artifacts to Latchford, who then sold them to Western collectors, dealers, and institutions. These pieces were often physically damaged, having been pried off temple walls or other structures by the looters.
Latchford was indicted in a New York federal court in 2019 on charges including wire fraud and conspiracy. He died in 2020, aged 88, before he could be extradited to face charges.
Cambodia, like neighboring Thailand, has benefited from a trend in recent decades involving the repatriation of art and archaeological treasures. These include ancient Asian artworks as well as pieces lost or stolen during turmoil in places such as Syria, Iraq and Nazi-occupied Europe. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the prominent institutions that has been returning illegally smuggled art, including to Cambodia.
“The ancient artifacts created and preserved by our ancestors are now being returned to Cambodia, bringing warmth and joy, following the country’s return to peace,” said Hun Many, who is the younger brother of Prime Minister Hun Manet.
