DENR-NAMRIA Vessel Locates Sunken Tanker M/T SOLAR 1

Locating the sunken vessel M/T Solar will no longer be tedious and backbreaking for the Japanese high-tech ship which begins to establish today the location of M/T Solar 1.

Reason: the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA), an attached agency of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), has earlier determined the position of the sunken vessel.

The DENR ship has established the position of MT Solar 1 at Latitude 10° 15.52´ North, Longitude 122° 29.15´ East at a depth of 640 meters, or about 13.3 nautical miles (24 kms) south of Lusaran Point, Guimaras. The position is about 5 kilometers eastward from the geographic coordinates of the spot where MT Solar 1 reportedly sank on 11 August 2006.

This information had been relayed to the crew of the Japanese vessel which will utilize sophisticated gadgets in conducting its own search of the sunken MT Solar 1. Using robotics, the Japanese vessel will determine how the bunker oil still stored in the compartments of the sunken vessel can be retrieved to prevent further environmental damage.

Upon instructions of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to assist in locating the sunken vessel, DENR Secretary Angelo Reyes directed NAMRIA Administrator Diony Ventura on 16 August 2006 to deploy the agency’s multidisciplinary state-of-the-art twin vessels, Barko ng Republika ng Pilipinas (BRP) Hydrographer Ventura and BRP Hydrographer Presbitero. The vessels started their survey on 17 August 2006 within the area where the M/T Solar I sank, which was initially reported at Latitude 10° 14.5´ N, Longitude 122° 26.1´ E.

The DENR-NAMRIA’s multipurpose survey vessels are specially designed for conducting submarine topographic and geological surveys, geomagnetic and gravity measurements, oceanographic observations, scientific investigations and charting the Exclusive Economic Zone, navigational lanes, ports and harbors, channels, inland waters, and coastal areas; and location of objects on the seafloor such as sunken vessel, wrecks, and other potential hazards to navigation.

Detailed seabed survey using the multi-beam sonar on side-scanning mode was conducted by BRP Ventura and detected the sunken vessel approximately measuring 73 meters long, whose breadth is 15 meters at one end and 11 meters at mid-section. The measurement indicates that the vessel may be lying on its side, with the wider end being the bridge (aft) portion while the other end (bow) may be partially submerged in sediment.

The survey results were presented to the key officials of Fukada Salvage and Marine Works Co., Ltd. and Petron Corporation by Commander Virgilio Aligora, Commanding Officer of BRPH Ventura on August 30 aboard his vessel. The officials included Felimon Antiporta, VP for Operations, Petron; Noboyuri Itoh, salvage master of Shinshei Maru, and Mr. Parker, PN Insurance.

The briefing covered a comparison of the amplitude and side-scan data of the suspected wreck to the surroundings and an overlaying of the side-scan data and the bathymetric data. The bathymetry information clearly showed the shape of the seabed while the side-scan data indicated the materials forming the seafloor. Combining bottom-composition information provided by side-scan sonar with the depth information from range-finding sonar indicated the characteristics of the ocean bottom. These convinced the company officials that the data presented approximate the size of M/T Solar 1 which is 73 meters by 11.6 meters.

Secretary Avelino Cruz, Chairman of National Disaster Coordinating Council and Secretary of National Defense, and the Philippine Coast Guard have been informed of the location of the sunken MT Solar 1.