Chile: about 40,000 liters of spilled diesel fuel

Some 40,000 liters of diesel fuel fell into the sea on Saturday night on the island of Guarello in the Magallanes region of southern Chile, US Navy officials said on Tuesday. # 39; emergency.

The spill occurred in a terminal of the Pacific Steel Company (CAP), located about 250 kilometers northwest of Puerto Natales (at El Calafate, Santa Cruz), while A fuel transfer was carried out ashore. along the coast, sources said.

The Greenpeace environmental organization has called the spill an "environmental crisis" and warned it could have "devastating consequences" in the region. "You have to think that the area is extremely difficult to access and that it is an area of ​​great wealth of marine mammals, such as whales and dolphins, which could be seriously affected in their habitat", said Matías Asún, director of Greenpeace Chile.

After the spill, the fuel sank into the sea, said Rear-Admiral Ronald Baasch, head of the Third Naval Zone, at Radio Cooperativa. "We received a communication from CAP about this fuel spill, a product of an oil transfer operation on land, which then brought this fuel to reach the sea," he said. declared.

In addition, he indicated that the pilot boat Eliner and Marinero Fuentealba had been immediately sent to the area affected by a pollution control team, which should mitigate the effects of oil spilled into the sea.

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