An oil pipeline spill in Ecuador polluted the country’s protected area of the Cayambe Coca National Park, the Ministry of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition said Monday.
“The total area affected is 21,007.91 square metres, including 16,913.61 square metres within the protected zone and 4,094.3 square metres in the buffer zone of the protected area,” reports Xinhua news agency quoting the Environment Ministry as saying in a statement.
Footage obtained and posted on Twitter by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), an advocacy group, shows oil spraying out of the pipeline. The rupture happened Friday, and was caused by a rock fall, said OCP Ecuador, the company that operates the pipeline.
The Cayambe Coca Ecological Reserve protects one of the country’s main water supplies, reports Xinhua news agency.
It is also home to numerous species of flora and fauna.
“Information was gathered to determine the damage to the environment,” the Ministry said.
A landslide following heavy rains in the Piedra Fina zone on the border of Amazonian provinces of Napo and Sucumbios fell on the pipeline of the private crude transport company OCP Ecuador on January 28.
The Ministry said the government is investigating OCP Ecuador, which could result in fines and sanctions.
Indigenous organizations and environmental NGOs insist on more information.
“We demand to know the number of barrels spilled and what the process of delivery of water and food will be for the communities,” the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (Confeniae) said on Twitter.
“It is clear that the river water cannot be used or consumed,” it added.
OCP said it had begun providing clean water to affected communities and would follow up with food and medical care shortly.
Crude petroleum is Ecuador’s biggest export product. Between January and November 2021, the country extracted 494,000 barrels per day, AFP reports.
The oil leak is the second to mar South American ecosystems in two weeks, after nearly 12,000 barrels of crude spilled into the sea off Peru on January 15.
The spill, described as an “ecological disaster” by the Peruvian government, happened when a tanker was unloading oil at a refinery owned by Spanish company Repsol.
It polluted beaches, killed wildlife and robbed fishermen of their livelihood.
On Monday, the government in Lima ordered Repsol to freeze the transfer of oil between ships and the refinery “until technical guarantees are given that no other damage will occur in the Peruvian sea.”
On Friday, the Peruvian justice system banned four Repsol executives from leaving the country for 18 months and ordered the seizure of the tanker involved.
(With inputs from agencies)
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