Coast guards placed oil spill booms around a leaking Vietnamese ship that sank off Palawan island in the Philippines.

Footage shows personnelfrom The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) deploying the booms to contain the fuel seeping out of the Vietnam-flagged Viet Hai Star near Balabac town on November 23.

The cargo ship carrying approximately 4,000 tons of rice had set sail from Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City and was headed to Cagayan de Oro City in Mindanao island in the Philippines when its crew found a leak on the starboard side of the vessel's bow.

It began taking on water and was half-submerged around 740 metres from the Balabac port.

Coastguards rescued the 17 crew members and transported them to Balabac port on November 22.

In a statement, the PCG said: 'As of 7 am today, 23 November 2023, the PCG response team reported that the vessel was fully flooded due to high tide and rough seas overnight and now settled on a muddy and rocky area of Calandorang Bay in Balabac.

'Coast Guard personnel also noticed oil sheens within the vicinity waters, as the subject vessel was carrying 29,000 liters of automotive diesel oil (ADO).

'Immediately, the Marine Environmental Protection Unit (MEPU) personnel started laying out oil spill booms to control the incident.

'The Coast Guard's Special Operations Group (SOG) divers are conducting an underwater inspection to assess the vessel's status and for further measures.'