Environmental Disaster Due to Oil Spill Worsens in Ecuador
Improvised dam on the Caple River in Esmeraldas, Ecuador. March 26, 2025. @Expedientes_ec
March 26, 2025 Hour: 12:45 pm
A precarious dam collapsed, allowing the oil spill to continue unstoppable toward the Pacific Ocean.
On Tuesday afternoon, an improvised containment dike on the Caple River collapsed due to the heavy rains that continue to batter the province of Esmeraldas. As a result, thousands of barrels of oil continue to flow through Ecuadorian rivers toward the Pacific Ocean.
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“Contingency teams from Petroecuador, Heavy Crude Oil Pipeline (OCP), and remediation companies were immediately activated and are deployed on-site, where they are carrying out containment efforts and reinforcing barriers,” the Energy Ministry said.
“As emergency measures, seven barriers have been installed on the Viche River, and tractors have been deployed on the beaches to remove driftwood and oil-contaminated materials that may be carried away by the tide. Water intake at the San Mateo plant has been suspended to prevent possible hydrocarbon contamination,” it added.
Before the collapse of the Caple River’s dike, authorities had set up several dikes in an attempt to contain the environmental contamination caused by 25,116 oil barrels that spilled into the rivers due to the rupture of the Transecuadorian Pipeline System (SOTE).
This oil spill occurred on March 13, contaminating several rivers, leaving over 500,000 people without water, and harming flora and fauna. Since then, high-ranking officials have made a series of contradictory statements.
In one of them, Energy Minister Ines Manzano even claimed that the pipeline rupture was the result of sabotage. Later, however, the official version of the events changed.
Currently, documents leaked to the press reveal that the environmental disaster could have been prevented if the administration of President Daniel Noboa had invested in the SOTE maintenance.
Last weekend, another oil spill occurred in the Shushufindi-Quito pipeline, near the San Francisco de Borja area in the province of Napo.
teleSUR/ JF
Sources: EFE – Pichincha
