NUEVA VALENCIA (Philippines), Aug 20: Environmental watchdog Greenpeace said on Sunday it was ‘shocked’ by the extent of damage caused by the Philippines’ worst ever oil spill and called on the government to treat the raising of the sunken tanker as a matter of urgency.

“It’s really bad out there,” Athena Ballesteros, climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace International, told AFP.

“The extent of damage to such a wonderful part of the Philippines shocked us all.

“The government must treat, as a matter of urgency, the raising of the tanker before more damage is done,” she said.

Some 50,000 gallons of oil has leaked from the tanker Solar 1 which sank on August 11 off Guimaras island in the central Philippines.

The tanker was chartered by Petron, which is part government owned.

Resting on the seabed with some 450,000 gallons still in its hold the tanker has been described by environmentalists as a ticking time bomb.

Oil has contaminated 220 kilometres of coastline and destroyed 454 hectares (1,121 acres) of mangroves and 58 hectares of seaweed farms, Guimaras governor Joaquin Rahman Nava said at the weekend.

He said the spill had also destroyed the livelihoods of thousands of people dependent on fishing for a living.

Nava described the island province as a ‘gem’ with its long stretches of white beaches, clear seawater and rich marine life.

“Over years, we have devoted a sizeable chunk of our development fund to the improvement of our coastal treasures, from projects in coastal resource management, mangrove reforestation, seaweed, pearl and shellfish industries,” he told local media.

“What has taken us decades to build up has been destroyed overnight.”

Greenpeace, which is conducting an environmental impact study for the coastguard, concentrated much of its research on Sunday on the Taklong Marine Reserve in the south of the island, which has been badly affected by the spill.

Covering some 1,143 hectares, the park is home to a rich variety of mangroves and marine life. Two areas of mangroves were totally covered in sludge.

Greenpeace says it will take several months to draw up its report on the full environmental impact of the spill.

“The real problem still rests underwater, and until that is removed the danger has not gone away,” Ballesteros said.

A Manila newspaper on Sunday said the captain of the tanker was not properly trained to handle the ship.

The findings of a preliminary investigation by the Maritime Industry Authority showed he did not have ‘advance training on oil tanker operations’, according to a report in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Coastguard commander Harold Jarder told AFP that the slick, stretching 15 nautical miles, was slowly being carried by ocean currents into the Guimaras Strait opposite the sugar-growing island of Negros.

“At present Negros is not directly affected,” he said.

On land, hundreds of villagers were trying to mop up the slick with improvised tools such as bamboo poles, rice straw, dried grass, used sacks and even clothing.

At sea and off beaches booms have been erected to contain the oil which is scooped out and taken away for disposal.

President Gloria Arroyo on Saturday said the government had sought the help of the United States, Japan and Indonesia to try and refloat the tanker which is lying in 900 meters of water.—AFP