Peru faces environmental emergency after devastating oil spill

Waves wash oil onto Cavero Beach in Ventanilla, some 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of Peru's capital Lima. Nearly 1.2 million liters of crude oil spilled into the Pacific Ocean not far from where the tanker Mare Doricum was hit by violent waves while unloading crude oil at the Pampilla refinery.

Peru has declared an environmental emergency and a cleanup effort is underway along the coast. The cause of the strong swell that led to the disaster lies more than 10,000 kilometers away: The underwater volcano, Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai, in the South Pacific state of Tonga erupted two weeks ago and triggered tsunamis as far away as South America.

A satellite image shows an oil slick off Cavero Beach. The spill is considered to be Peru's largest ecological disaster in recent history. The Pacific Ocean off Peru is a rich marine ecosystem, and the Environment Ministry said Sunday that more than 180 hectares of coastline and 713 hectares of the sea have been affected as ocean currents spread the spilled oil along the coast.

The oil continues to threaten seabirds and marine life, amounting to heavy losses for Peru's fishing and tourist industries. The government has appealed for international support.

Local residents affected by the disaster demonstrated in front of the Pampilla refinery belonging to the Spanish oil giant Repsol. Their sign reads "Repsol, get out of Peru." The Peruvian government has blamed the company for the spill because it owns the pipeline and the tanker from which the oil leaked. The government is demanding compensation from Repsol.

Repsol has sent response teams and equipment to contain the spill, but has denied being responsible for the disaster. Repsol said the Peruvian authorities failed to issue a tsunami warning following the Tonga underwater eruption. Here, Repsol employees are seen loading polluted sand onto a wheelbarrow on Cavero beach.

These people aren't buying the company's assurances: In long red skirts, they protested against Repsol in Lima. Many in Peru have blamed Repsol for the catastrophe. Meanwhile, the company is busy doing damage control of its own. On Sunday, Jaime Fernandez-Cuesta, the president of Repsol Peru, said his company will "do everything to remedy this disaster as quickly as possible."

Employees of the Peruvian forestry agency Serfor have already found many dead sea otters and birds washed up on beaches and in nature reserves, such as this dead seabird on Ventanilla beach. Biologist Guillermo Ramos from Serfor worries that even more animals will die if the spill continues to spread.

This cormorant was lucky: It's one of around 40 birds that were brought to the Parque de Las Leyendas zoo in Lima after helpers rescued them from oil-infested beaches. Humboldt penguins were also saved. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature considers them to be an endangered species.

A team of veterinarians is now caring for the birds, bathing them in special cleaning agents to remove the oil. "We have never seen anything like this in the history of Peru," Biologist Liseth Bermudez told the AFP news agency. The prognosis for these birds is unclear, she said. "We are doing everything we can."