The oil “shot out” into the river: the disaster appears in the Ecuadorian Amazon after a leak in the Heavy Crude Oil Pipeline

The oil shot out as soon as the rock hit the pipe. Cesar and other workmen ran to cut off their progress toward a river in the Ecuadorian Amazon, but they did not succeed. The “poisoned” water has already killed animals and threatens communities.

“We tried to prevent the oil from reaching the river, but it cascaded down the slope,” laments César Benalcázar, a 24-year-old worker.

On Friday, he was working at the site of the leak together with the crews that were removing with heavy machinery the rocks that had come loose at the height of Piedra Fina, about 80 km east of Quito.

The Heavy Crude Oil Pipeline (OCP), operated by private companies and the one with the largest capacity in Ecuador, passes through the area.

The day before the spill was a rainy day. The Quijos River was swollen and large rocks had fallen from the upper part of the mountain, one of which fell from a “point” and perforated the tube, according to César.

“At the moment the tube exploded, the oil shot out, like a pressure pump,” he recalls.

The efforts were unsuccessful. The crude oil descended so quickly down the slope that the workers did not have time to open a hole or pool with backhoes so that it would fall there and not contaminate the river.

The oil advanced to the Coca River, one of the main rivers in the Ecuadorian Amazon and which supplies several towns, including indigenous people, according to the Environment Ministry.

Two hectares of the Cayambe-Coca National Park were also affected, a 403,000-hectare reserve that is home to a wide variety of fauna such as the Chonta deer, as well as birds, mammals and amphibians.

– Pollution for long –

Neither the OCP company nor the Ecuadorian authorities have quantified the spilled oil.

However, in the farms near the pipeline, such as Benjamín Landázuri, the consequences are already being seen, while indigenous people and environmentalists fear a high impact on the remote populations that live downstream.

“Near my house runs a stream and there is a spring from where we drink water for (our) consumption; We have already had the death of some chickens that drink from the stream,” says Landázuri, a 57-year-old construction worker who was opening a variant on the site of the leak on Friday.

Upon returning to his home, he smelled a “very strong petroleum odor” that made his head ache. Then he saw the retaining barriers in the shape of “sausages” on the creek.

The technicians had rushed to stop the advance of the black spot, although they had already warned him that “contamination is long-term.”

“We have tilapia pools and they have already taken samples of the water to see if there is no contamination, otherwise the OCP will have to compensate us,” he adds.

In 2020 there was already a spill of some 15,000 barrels in the same area where the emergency occurred on Friday.

The black spot reached three Amazonian rivers, whose banks are inhabited by thousands of people from the provinces of Napo and Orellana.

Nobody quantified the disaster. As now, the oil ran through the waters. Since then the locals know that the tragedy will come later.