Tsunami, supertanker and oil spill: Peru in full clean-up operation

0


The tsunami that followed the underwater earthquake near the Tonga Islands caused very strong waves on the Peruvian coast. To the point of destabilizing an oil tanker unloading crude at a refinery north of Lima: 6,000 tonnes of oil soiled the beaches and ravaged wildlife.

In the middle of the austral summer, no one bathes on the beaches near Lima, the capital of Peru. Since the oil spill that sullied the coasts of central Peru, cleaning brigades have replaced vacationers.

The Peruvian coasts are stained with oil that spilled into the sea during the process of unloading crude from a tanker at the La Pampilla refinery, owned by the Spanish company Repsol. More than 6,000 barrels of crude spilled into the sea and now sully at least 18 km².

Peruvian volunteers return on Friday after a day of cleaning on the beach of Cavero soiled by the oil spill caused, in part, by the tsunami which followed the earthquake which struck the Tonga islands last weekend. (Martin Mejia/AP)

A biologist from the Peruvian Natural Areas Protection Service picked up a bird covered in oil on Friday. (Pilar Olivares/Reuters)

During the Cavero beach cleanup on Friday. (Martin Mejia/AP)

Aerial view of boats participating, north of Lima, in the cleanup operation after the oil spill on Thursday. The seaside resort of Ancon was polluted by tons of oil escaped from the tanker “Mare Doricum”, which was flying the Italian flag. (Cris Bouloncle/AFP)

During a clean-up operation on Peruvian beaches on Friday. (Pilar Olivares/REUTERS)

On the beach of Cavero in Peru, Friday, a dead bird. (Martin Mejia/AP)

A pile of oil drums recovered during a clean-up operation on Cavero Beach on Friday. (Martin Mejia/AP)

On the beach of Cavero, January 17. (Martin Mejia/AP)

Friday, during an operation to protect the seaside resort of Ancon, north of Lima, where volunteers replaced vacationers. (Cris Bouroncle/AFP)

A demonstration on Friday outside the headquarters of the oil company Repsol, from which at least 6,000 tonnes of oil spilled on Peruvian beaches after the tsunami. (Sebastian Castaneda/Reuters)

The government called the oil spill a “ecological disaster” and Peruvian justice has opened an investigation. For its part, the refinery rejects the responsibility for the maritime conditions, ensuring that the Peruvian authorities had not issued an alert on a possible strengthening of the swell due to the volcanic eruption in Tonga.

The Tonga Islands suffered a particularly powerful volcanic eruption on January 15 which caused a widespread tsunami, flooding the coasts of the United States as far as Chile and Japan.



Source link -83