Aerial view showing the oil spill at the Coca river in Puerto Maderos village, Sucumbios province, Ecuador on February 1, 2022. – An oil spill in eastern Ecuador has reached a nature reserve and polluted a river that supplies water to indigenous communities, according to the country’s environmental ministry. Video footage showed torrents of water carrying stones, mud and debris down streets in the Ecuadoran capital, as rescuers helped inhabitants wade through the fast-running currents to safety.
Quito mayor Santiago Guarderas said a downpour had overwhelmed a hillside water catchment structure that had a capacity of 4,500 cubic meters but was inundated with more than four times that volume. “Those who managed to run were saved a family got buried” under a river of mud, added Gonzalez, his own clothes still muddy from the ordeal.It was not immediately known how many of the players or spectators were among the total number of dead and injured.Quito police chief Cesar Zapata did not rule out finding more bodies under thousands of cubic meters of mud and debris left behind by the flood.Rescuer Cristian Rivera said many people in Quito had to be treated for hypothermia.