Rush to remove oil from grounded USS Guardian
Probe into why minesweeper was in protected World Heritage-listed coral reef in Philippines
The US Navy said yesterday it needed to remove thousands of litres of oil from a minesweeper stuck on World Heritage-listed coral in the Philippines, warning it was too badly damaged to be towed away.
The 68-metre USS Guardian, which became embedded in the Tubbataha Reef a week ago, would have to be lifted onto another ship or barge, a process that might take another two weeks, said Rear Admiral Thomas Carney. Photos show the entire ship aground on the reef, in an area which prohibits navigation by all vessels except registered tourism and research boats.
"The option that we hoped to be able to tow the ship off the reef is not available," said Carney, who heads the US Navy's logistics group in the western Pacific. "It's too badly damaged. It's got hull penetrations in several places, and there's a significant amount of water inside the ship right now."
He said the Guardian had listed after being battered by huge waves, and the most pressing issue was to remove 57,000 litres of fuel. "The first priority is to get the fuel out of the ship as soon as possible," Carney said.
Carney described the salvage operation as "a very deliberate, complicated process" involving at least two more US Navy vessels.
"It depends on the environmental conditions out there as to how safely we can proceed," he said.
American divers have been on board to determine the ship's stability, as well as secure or remove crucial equipment inside the vessel to make it lighter for lifting, Carney said.
