The salvage team working on the USS Guardian, which ran aground in Tubbataha Reef, removed the warship’s last remaining section early Saturday afternoon after being stuck on the Unesco World Heritage site for more than 10 weeks, a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) official said. PCG Palawan District chief Commodore Enrico Efren Evangelista said the stern of the 68-meter US mine countermeasures ship was lifted off the reef at around 2 p.m. The US warship hit the upper side of the South Atoll, one of the two main atolls comprising the Tubbataha Reefs, at dawn on Jan. 17 while it was on its way to Indonesia.

Tubeza, P. C. (2013, March 31). Tubbataha reef salvage. Philippine Daily Inquirer, p. A2.