It was described by the authorities as an “ecological disaster”.
An oil spill was recorded on the central coast of Peru, after a ship that supplied the La Pampilla refinery was hit by the waves caused by the eruption of an underground volcano in Tonga.
The authorities closed three beaches affected by the more than 6.000 gallons discharged in the province of Callao. Dozens of animals have died a because of the incident.
The “anomalous waves” also caused the death of two women who drowned on the beach known as Naylamp, in the province of Chiclayo, in the north of the country, according to the police.
Responsibilities
Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked the company that manages the refinery, the Spanish Repsol, q eu pay compensation for the damage.
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“The Repsol oil spill in Ventanilla is the worst ecological disaster that has occurred in Lima in recent times, and has caused serious damage to hundreds of fishermen’s families. Repsol must compensate this damage immediately”, reads a tweet on the official account of the Peruvian Foreign Ministry.
The authorities say that the leak damaged some .000 square kilometers of protected areas containing a variety of plants and animals.
“ This terrible situation has endangered the flora and fauna in two protected natural areas over 14. square kilometers such as the National Reserve of the System of Islands, Islets and Puntas Guaneras, Islotes de Pescadores and the Ancón Reserved Zone ”, added the ministry.
While, the company’s communications director, Tine Van Den Wall Bake, denied that they were responsible for the leak on Wednesday during an intro avoid. He also said that the spill was “limited.”
“We did not cause this ecological disaster,” he said in the Peruvian radio station RPP.
He added that the Peruvian Navy told the company that there was no tsunami warning for the coast and that they could continue unloading the crude.
But the president of the Council of Ministers, Mirtha Vásquez, commented that the company “apparently” did not have a contingency plan to deal with a large-scale oil spill.
An investigation begins
The Peruvian prosecutor’s office announced that it will begin a investigation into Repsol’s role in the incident.
For its part, the Ministry of the Environment indicated that the Spanish energy giant could face fines of more than US$000,5 million.
The government gave a term of d ten days to the company to pick up the crude.
Peru’s energy regulator, Osinergmin, said in a statement that it ordered the closure of one of the four refinery terminals until the causes of the spill are determined.
The government is also cleaning up some three kilometers of beaches.
La Pampilla is built near the city of Ventanilla in the Lima Region and is the largest refinery in Peru. It supplies more than half of the local fuel market.
Volcano in Tonga
An eruption of the submarine volcano Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai on Saturday unleashed powerful waves in the South Pacific, putting several countries on alert, including including the United States, Japan and Chile.
The eruption caused waves of more than a meter in Tonga, an island nation made up of 127 islands spread over some 700.000 square kilometers.
So far, three deaths have been confirmed in Tonga, in addition to the two in Peru. But photographs taken by the New Zealand Air Force show a village completely destroyed.
The Tongan government said some of the smaller outlying islands are particularly affected, with all the houses destroyed on one of the islands.
The ashes that cover the territory make it difficult for supplies to arrive from neighboring countries, as they affect the visibility of aircraft. Drinking water is particularly lacking on the site.
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