(Panama) A gigantic fire in the largest landfill in Panama has generated a cloud of “highly toxic” smoke above populated areas near the capital, firefighters said on Tuesday.
The fire broke out Monday evening in the Cerro Patacon landfill, in the suburbs of the capital Panama. The extinction “could take about a week,” fire department official Eduardo Escobar told Telemetro.
The cloud of smoke, visible from several points in the capital, “is highly toxic” and moves with the winds, he said. “But we can’t do anything about the smoke,” warned the firefighter.
Opened in 1986, the open landfill of Cerro Patacon receives more than half of the garbage of the whole country. Hundreds of people roam it every day, looking for metals or glass to resell, and a slum is nearby.
“Among the various hypotheses that must be investigated is the presence of criminal hands,” said the concessionaire of the landfill, the company Urbalia, in a press release.