MANILA — Around 15 crew members of the sunken tanker MT Princess Empress, the source of the massive oil spill in Oriental Mindoro spreading in many areas, appeared with their lawyers before the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Friday.

They were earlier subpoenaed by the authorities in relation to their investigation on the spillage from the tanker, which was carrying 800,000 liters of industrial fuel oil when it went down in rough seas late last month.

The captain of the ship, oilers, crew, and staff are being interviewed by the NBI agents, as of writing.

Several other crew members were in the province and failed to present themselves to the NBI.

The NBI said that for now, they are being treated as persons of interest.

The MT Princess Empress was found by a Japanese remotely operated vehicle on Tuesday.

More than 2,500 hectares of coral reefs, mangroves, and seaweed could be affected by the spill, the environment department said previously.

Thousands of fishermen have been ordered to stay ashore as the government struggled to clean up the spill.

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Dozens of people have also fallen ill in Oriental Mindoro after oil washed up on their shores, the provincial government said.

— With a report from Agence France-Presse

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