Oil slick spreads in Philippines, fishing areas hit

ILOILO CITY, Philippines, Aug 22 (Reuters) Sludge has washed ashore on the main Panay island in central Philippines as an oil spill from a sunken tanker spread, threatening fishing grounds, officials said today.

Eleven days after the tanker chartered by Petron Corp, the largest oil refiner in the Philippines, sunk 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,'' Vice Admiral Arthur Gosingan, the coast guard commander, said.

The tanker was carrying about 2 million litres of industrial fuel when it sank in rough seas, initially spilling 200,000 litres of bunker oil on August 11.

Raul Banas, mayor of Concepcion town in Iloilo province, said the oil slick had reached eight coastal villages, threatening the country's main fishing grounds in the central Philippines as the currents moved thin sheets of oil hundreds of miles to the north.

''We've declared the coastal areas as a calamity zone,'' Banas said.

The spill is the worst to hit the Philippines but pales against the world's biggest accident, the 1979 collision between the Atlantic Empress and another vessel that leaked 287,000 tonnes into the sea off Tobago.

Philippine officials said the pollution from the spill could take upto three years to clean up completely, with nearly 40,000 people and 200 km of coastline affected.

Virginia Ruivivar, a Petron spokeswoman, said the cost of the clean up and any losses incurred by the company from the spill would be covered by insurance.

''As of August 20, we have covered nearly 12 km of shoreline and collected 60 metric tonnes of debris,'' Ruivivar said in a statement late yesteray. ''At our current rate, we expect the clean up to be completed in 30-45 days.'' REUTERS DKA VC1135