Philippines delays recovery of sunken tanker's oil

Manila: The Philippines postponed on Sunday the removal of fuel from a tanker that sank in Manila Bay, with fears of an environmental catastrophe grow...

Manila: The Philippines postponed on Sunday the removal of fuel from a tanker that sank in Manila Bay, with fears of an environmental catastrophe growing as leaking oil reached shore for the first time.

The siphoning of the 1.4 million litres of industrial fuel oil from the vessel's hold was pushed back to Tuesday at the earliest so divers could seal nine leaking valves first, Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Rear Admiral Armando Balilo told reporters.

The tanker sank in bad weather off Manila early Thursday, killing one crew member and leaving the country facing the possibility of its worst oil spill ever.

"An order was given to seal the valves first before the start of the siphoning operations in order to prevent further leakages," Balilo said Sunday.

"The weather remains bad out there but they have a target to finish this (sealing the valves) by tomorrow."