Twenty-three truck drivers were allegedly forced by Colombia’s largest rebel group, the FARC, to spill more than 5,000 barrels of crude oil onto a road in southwest Colombia, causing a major ecological disaster, Colombia’s Semana news magazine reported on Sunday.
A convoy of truck drivers were transporting crude oil from southwestern Colombia to Ecuador when, at 7:45AM on July 1, they were stopped by armed insurgents, allegedly from the FARC’s 48th Front, and ordered at gun point to spill the oil on the road, announced secretary of local government, Javier Rosero Pai.
“The priority is to do a scan [of the area] in order to prevent the oil spill from running off into the tributaries that eventually lead to the aqueducts where drinking water is sourced,” announced Mining and Energy Minister Amilkar Acosta, according to Infobae America.
Last year, the FARC were accused of attacking a pipeline in the same area, which also threatened rivers and drinking water sources.
MORE: ‘FARC attack on pipeline’ causes oil spill in southern Colombia
Although the latest incident occurred a week ago, a video has just recently surfaced that shows the full extent of the ecological disaster.
Sources
- El desastre ecológico que habría perpetrado las FARC (La Semana)
- Colombia intenta evitar un desastre ecológico tras un derrame de petróleo de las FARC (Infobae)
