Peru Mayor Says Camisea Gas Pipeline Leak Contaminated Jungle Rivers, Sickening Hundreds
September 22, 2005 — By Associated Press
AYACUCHO, Peru — A district mayor threatened Wednesday to sue the operators of a pipeline that transports natural gas liquids from the Camisea gas fields in the country's southern Amazon after it sprang a leak in one of his villages.
Transportadora del Gas del Peru, or TGP, which runs the Camisea liquids pipeline, said Friday that it had evacuated about 200 people from the village of Toccate and temporarily closed a highway following the spill. But Celestino Romin, mayor of the Anco district, told The Associated Press that the damage was far more extensive.
The leak, which lasted about three hours, spread the gas liquids to the Toccate, Monterrico and Anchihuay rivers and other waterways, killing fish and sickening more than 500 people, he said.
"This gas is toxic," Romin said. "They've practically poisoned the entire river because the aquatic species have died."
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The Camisea project is run by an international consortium of companies, including Argentina's Pluspetrol and Techint, Texas--based Hunt Oil, South Korea's SK Corp. and Algeria's state--controlled Sonatrach.
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