InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
MANILA, Philippines – Seventeen seamen were injured, including five who sustained third degree burns in their bodies, due to an explosion inside a local oil tanker in Limay, Bataan on Wednesday.
While the tanker was about to load oil while moored at the port of an oil refinery in Limay, Bataan, a huge blast was heard inside the vessel at past 4 p.m. Wednesday.
A civilian tugboat and the Bataan Coast Guard immediately came to the rescue to extinguish the fire after about an hour.
The crew were able to jump overboard but their quarters and the tanker’s kitchen were burned. Luckily the engine room did not sustain heavy damage because the explosion shot upward and destroyed the upper deck of the vessel.
Municipal fire marshal Senior Fire Officer Recto Imperial theorized that fumes that had long been stored from a leaking diesel gas tank in the engine room may have built up pressure, causing the explosion when the ship’s generator was opened.
They are investigating how the diesel gas had leaked.
An act of terrorism or foul play has been discounted.
Lt. Carlos Victor Carlos of the Bataan Coast Guard said the owner of the tanker and its crew may be held administratively liable for the incident.
The owner of the tanker that is used to supply diesel to the province of Mindoro and parts of Mindanao has defrayed the medical expenses of the injured seamen.
Watch the News5 video report by Dindo Flora below:
