Philippines Tanker Spill Spreads, Hits Key Fishing Area - Reuters

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ILOILO CITY, Philippines - Sludge has washed up on Panay, a large island in the central Philippines, as an oil spill from a sunken tanker spread, threatening rich fishing grounds, officials said on Tuesday.

Eleven days after the tanker chartered by Petron Corp., the largest oil refiner in the Philippines, sunk (sic) off the island of Guimaras, an average of 100-200 litres of oil continued to gush every hour, officials said. We are still trying to combat the oil spill," said Vice Admiral Arthur Gosingan, the coast guard commander.

The tanker was carrying about 2 million litres of bunker oil, an industrial fuel, when it sank in rough weather on Aug. 11 and initially spilled 200,000 litres into the sea.

The sunken ship is too deep for divers to reach and the Philippines, lacking heavy salvage equipment, has appealed for international help to prevent the disaster from getting worse.

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