an oil leak occurs in an Amazon rainforest

A torrent of mud, viscous and blackish, which carries almost everything in its path, was filmed by a video surveillance camera. In the suburbs of Quito, the capital ofEcuador, a neighborhood was gutted, the houses flooded. The toll is heavy: at least 24 people died. After several hours of deluge, the inhabitants, supported by the army, began to clean the streets. The damage is very important.

“We’re going to have to clear a lot of debris, dozens of houses are destroyed, but the water has also washed away cars and furniture. You find it everywhere“, testifies a resident. The torrential rains of recent days are at the origin of this disaster. They caused landslides, but also the rupture of an oil pipeline located upstream of a river. The equivalent of 6,300 barrels, or more than a million liters of oil, leaked into the Cayambe-Coca National Park, an Amazonian forest that is nevertheless protected because it is rich in biodiversity.Ecuadorian authorities fear major pollution.The river is believed to be already contaminated. This is the main resource of the indigenous populations who live in these high altitude forests.