"Oil spill in Ecuador river brings emergency declaration", 15 March 2025

...An oil spill in northwestern Ecuador has turned a river black, prompting authorities to declare an environmental emergency and order residents to ration drinking water.

The spill, believed to have been caused when a landslide ruptured a major oil pipeline, has contaminated a section of the Esmeraldas River in the province of the same name.

Residents in the town of Cube, where the water had changed color, were trying to stop the flow by building dikes, an AFP journalist saw...

The Emergency Operations Committee in the provincial capital, also called Esmeraldas, declared an environmental emergency over concerns about water quality.

Vilko Villacis, mayor of the city of more than 200,000, said the leak had caused "unprecedented" damages...

On Friday, state-owned Petroecuador said it was working to address the emergency at the pipeline, part of the Trans-Ecuadorian Pipeline System (SOTE) which transports crude oil from the Amazon.

The company has not estimated the volume of oil spilled...