MANILA, Aug 14, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - The Philippines said Wednesday it began retrieving 1.4 million litres of industrial fuel oil from a sunken tanker off Manila Bay that for weeks has threatened to cause an environmental disaster.

The Philippine coast guard said a private company is transferring the cargo, an operation the government earlier indicated could take one week to complete.

"The syphoning operation for the first tank is ongoing," a coast guard media officer told reporters.

The Filipino-flagged tanker capsized and sank off Manila on July 25, killing one crew member as the ship tried to return to port amid bad weather fuelled by Typhoon Gaemi. It was carrying eight tanks of industrial fuel oil when it sank.

It took authorities three weeks to control the spillage of the cargo and install the equipment to remove the fuel oil from the vessel that now rests at the bottom of the bay about 34 metres (112 feet) below the waves.

The coast guard had warned the release of the cargo onto the bay would be an "environmental catastrophe" and the country's worst oil spill.

The coast guard later said the spillage has been minimal, but local governments nonetheless imposed "no-catch" zones affecting tens of thousands of fishermen in the bay.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources has urged the public to "exercise caution when consuming fish from the affected areas due to the risk of petrochemical contamination".

One of the worst oil spills in Philippine history occurred in February 2023, when a tanker carrying 800,000 litres of industrial fuel oil sank off the central island of Mindoro.

Diesel fuel and thick oil from that vessel contaminated the waters and beaches along the coast of Oriental Mindoro province, devastating the fishing and tourism industries.

The oil dispersed over hundreds of kilometres of waters famed for having some of the most diverse marine life in the world.