Hundreds of people have fallen sick and one man has died in the central Philippines following the country's worst-ever oil spill, health officials said yesterday.
The health department has deployed medical teams to Guimaras Island, which bore the brunt of the disaster, where 329 people have complained of a range of health problems including skin irritation and respiratory problems.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque arrived in the nearby city of Iloilo yesterday to see first hand the conditions following the sinking of an oil tanker off Guimaras on Aug. 11 which has discharged more than 189,270 liters of industrial oil into the pristine seas.
PHOTO: AFP
The tanker, said to be resting on the seabed with 1.7 million liters still in its hold has been described as an ecological time bomb by environmentalists.
Four US coastguard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency experts also arrived in Iloilo yesterday to assess the damage and see how they could help.
They join Japanese experts who have already been sent to assist in the disaster.
Duque said the department would look into the case of Rogelio Dalida, a fisherman from Nueva Valencia town in Guimaras who reportedly died of a heart attack after inhaling oil fumes.
He had been suffering from asthma and the fumes could have aggravated his condition, Duque said.
Nueva Valencia mayor Diosdado Gonzaga confirmed one man in his town died last week but said more tests were needed to determine if his heart attack was really brought on by the oil spill or not.
Duque said the health department would also look into hundreds of complaints by Guimaras residents of health problems possibly arising from the oil slick.
These problems range from skin irritation and respiratory problems to stomach aches and nausea, Duque said.
Two toxicologists have been sent to Guimaras by the health department to look into the possibility of relocating some coastal residents away from the shore.
Duque has warned residents exposure to the oil could lead to illnesses and advised them not to eat any marine products taken from the polluted waters.
Residents have been forced to use improvised spill booms, made of bamboo and dried grass to try to prevent black sludge washing up onto beaches.
They were also using buckets and shovels to scoop the sludge from the beaches.
Oil has contaminated more than 300km of coastline on Guimaras Island and is now threatening Negros, the country's fourth-largest island, as well as Panay Island.
Oil has also destroyed 454 hectares of mangroves and 58 hectares of seaweed farms.
Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz, who heads a task force on the oil spill said 3,700 families were affected by the disaster and that tourism to the island, once known for its pristine beaches, had also been hit hard.
The government set up a commission of inquiry into the disaster on Wednesday and has given it three days to submit an initial report.
The spill is already regarded as the worst environmental disaster in the history of the Philippines, stretching more than 18.5km and putting the livelihoods of thousands of poor fishermen at risk.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese