'Calamity' Over Philippine Oil Spill

A central Philippine island province has declared a "state of calamity" following what authorities have called the country's worst oil spill, officials said Tuesday.

"This is a very serious concern and we need all the help we can get because we have had no oil spill of this magnitude," Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes told reporters in central Bacolod city close to Guimaras Island.

The coast guard said in a statement it has sought the help of international oil spill response companies in dealing with 528,360 gallons of industrial fuel leaking out of the tanker Solar I, which sank in rough seas Friday off the southern coast of Guimaras, about 312 miles southeast of Manila. Two of the 20 crew members were still missing.

It said the oil spill was a potential "environmental catastrophe" and considered it as "the biggest major oil spill that has hit our country."

The Guimaras provincial board held a meeting Monday in Nueva Valencia town and declared the entire province under a "state of calamity," which allows the speedy release of relief funds during a disaster, said town Mayor Diosdado Gonzaga.

Regional environment chief Julian Amador said 2,787 acres of mangrove in Nueva Valencia and another 64.25 acres on an island marine reserve have been damaged. The oil was about four inches thick at the Taklong Island marine sanctuary.

Gonzaga said nearby Sibunag town also has been affected.

Officials in Valladolid on the southern tip of nearby Negros Occidental province also declared a "state of calamity" as the oil slick approached its shores late Tuesday.

The waters around the island resort of Inampulugan, part of Negros Occidental's Pulupandan municipality, was contaminated Tuesday.

Gonzaga said about 6,000 of his constituents, mostly dependent on fishing, have been affected but the number could increase after local officials complete a survey.

Emergency food supplies — rice and canned goods — have been distributed to residents of 11 coastal villages along 82.5 miles of the municipal shoreline, Gonzaga said.

"Our shorelines hit by the oil look like they were painted black. Anything it touches turns black," he told The Associated Press by cellular telephone.

He said the bunker oil was "very sticky, like molasses."

He said the oil spill has also spread to 59 acres of seaweed farms, putting their harvests at risk.

Cmdr. Harold Jarder, the coast guard officer supervising the containment of the oil spill, said the tanker is more than 3,000 feet under water about 16.5 miles south of Guimaras.

"We have no capability in the Philippines to reach the bottom," he told the AP.

He refused to speculate on how much fuel has already leaked out of the tanker since it sank, but said the oil slick Tuesday already was 17 miles long and about 165 feet wide and being swept by the currents southeastward toward Negros Island.

He said coast guard crews could not contain the spill over the site of the sinking with floating booms because of the big waves. He said they have resorted to spraying chemicals to disperse the fuel.