Global News

An old vessel of the Philippine Coast Guard that has been taken out of service will be turned into something useful.After patrolling over the Philippines seas for 26 years, the Barko ng Republika ng Pilipinas (BRP) Palawan will be taken under the sea, the Coast Guard said in a report.It will be turned into a shipwreck that will serve as a training site for the agency’s technical divers.According to Admiral Elson Hermogino, Coast Guard commandant, they would have to remove its engine; clean the tank and remove the oil “to make sure that it would not cause an oil spill when underwater.”

Hermogino said they are planning to sink the 40-meter ship in Anilao, Batangas; a known diving spot. It will be sunk at the depth of 50 to 60 feet.

Turning the vessel into a shipwreck will be useful for search and rescue operations training, as well as retrieval missions inside sunken ships.

It will train technical divers to maneuver inside close quarters, the agency said. With the plan to sink the ship, it will also free up berthing space for the Coast Guard’s active vessels.

BRP Palawan is a 59-year-old ship that was donated by the United States government to the Philippines in 1992. It was originally named PG-64.

It was decommissioned by the Coast Guard in June 2018.

Hermogino also bared that the Coast Guard has two other decommissioned ships up for disposal and will end in a scrap yard, but BPR Palawan will be the sole ship to be sunk.