Technicians evaluate environmental damage caused by an oil spill in the Amazon

Yesterday, Ecuadorian technicians along with an American expert carried out  an overflight to check the rivers polluted by a spill of 11.480  barrels of oil occurred in the end of may in the North of the Ecuadorian Amazon, so reported by the State-owned company Petroecuador in a statement.

According to the document, officials from the Ministry of Environment, of the National Secretariat of Risk Management and experts from the U.S company Elmer Americ, flew from the city of ‘El Coca’ to the border with Peru to check the level of pollution caused by the spill of oil occurred last May 31, caused by heavy rains.

The storms produced a landslide of earth and stones that broke a stretch of 100 meters of the main pipeline in the country.

Initially it was estimated a spill of 10,000 barrels, but later recalculations adjusted the figure. The two army helicopters  will fly up to the Peruvian territory, so the proper permissions were already obtained, Petroecuador said.

Petroecuador pointed out through the statement that the citizens of the communities settled on the banks of the affected rivers will be hired for tasks of cleaning and remediation, since technicians considered that work with mechanical equipment is not possible in this case, and added that “the community leaders have been contacted, and  agreed to do the job”.