1 month after oil spill, Lima’s beaches empty, cleanup slow

By FRANKLIN BRICEÑO
Associated Press

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Dozens of beaches near Lima are deserted and thousands of fishermen remain without work, one month after an oil spill at a refinery created what the United Nations called the worst ecological disaster in Peru’s recent history. Clean up of the oil is going slowly, with Peruvian authorities saying that less than a quarter of the 11,900 barrels spilled into Pacific Ocean on Jan. 15 has been collected. Spanish oil company Repsol says only 10,300 barrels spilled that day at its La Pampilla refinery in front of Peru’s capital. Environment Minister Modesto Montoya on Monday said that 2,000 barrels have been recovered.