The images in January from the once-pristine beaches of Ventanilla, north of Lima, shocked Peru and the world: dozens of workers in hazmat suits shovelling oily foam into wheelbarrows; oil-drenched seabirds being removed from black coastal waters; a local woman scrubbing the tar-stained rocks with a scouring pad and a washing-up bowl.
In mid-January, more than 10,000 barrels of crude oil gushed into the sea when an underwater pipeline ruptured during a routine discharge into La Pampilla, the country’s largest oil refinery, managed by the Spanish energy giant Repsol. It is now Peru’s biggest oil spill, covering an area of 116 sq km, and the worst ecological disaster to hit its Pacific coastline.
