Some 300 cubic meters of liquids from the Camisea natural gas project were spilled near the town of Toccate, in the ayacuchana de La Mar province, after one of the pipes ruptured. This situation led to the evacuation of some 200 inhabitants for the duration of 10 hours in order to prevent contamination.
As reported in a statement by the Argentine company Techint, the break in the liquid gas pipeline occurred early morning on Friday, 600 meters from the town of Toccate.
“Because of the configuration of the terrain, it was not possible to avoid that a fraction of the liquids contained in the pipe, whose volume is estimated in the order of 300 cubic meters, spill on adjacent land,” informed the company.
The company affirmed that following the spill, 200 inhabitants of Toccate were evacuated and holding barriers were placed on the Chunchubamba River, close to the zone. “The causes of the incident are being investigated and will be made public as soon as details are available,” they added.
Nevertheless, it was learned that ten hours after being evacuated, local residents returned after verifying there was no danger.
This is the second time in two weeks that liquid gas operations for Camisea were suspended, following a pipeline rupture at the end of August that led to the halting of operations for four days.
[Translated from Spanish by Amazon Watch]
