US Navy offers to break up reef-stuck ship

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The US Navy today proposed to dismantle the warship which has stuck on a Philippine reef, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, AFP has cited the Navy Command as saying.

A spokesperson of the Philippine national park, Tubbataha Reef, told reporters removing the vessel from the reef could harm the marine environment, but added leaving the ship as it is would certainly cause a greater damage.

The salvation crew managed to prevent the fuel from spilling. However rocking waves reportedly batter the warship pushing it further onto the reefs.

The Navy refused to comment on the ship’s mission in a restricted area of the national park. Philippine authorities said the US had neither asked for a permit to enter the UNESCO-listed world heritage site, nor heeded the warnings about its dangerous proximity to the reefs.

Philippines’ WWF office said the grounded warship had destroyed at least a dozen square meters of the reef, which is home to one of the most diverse wildlife varieties of the Coral Triangle in South-East Asia.

Source: Voice of Russia.