This archive report was first published on 4 November 2019.
As the peak tourism season approaches, Brazil is facing a devastating oil spill that has fouled hundreds of beaches in the northeastern state of Pernambuco, affecting over 2,000 kilometers of Atlantic coastline.
Locals have been rushing to the beaches, using their bare hands to remove the toxic oil coating sand, rocks, and wildlife. Coconut seller Glaucia Dias de Lima, 35, was shocked by the sight of people entering the water without safety equipment, in the middle of the oil slick.
"I was shocked, there were people entering the water without gloves, without safety equipment, in the middle of the oil," she told AFP as she picked up chunks of crude from Itapuama beach.
Thousands of military personnel have been dispatched to help clean up the oil, which has killed dozens of animals, including turtles, and reached a humpback whale sanctuary off Bahia state.
It is the third major environmental disaster to strike Brazil this year, following fires in the Amazon rainforest and a mine dam collapse in the southeast.
While thousands of tons of crude waste have been recovered, the space agency INPE warned that there might still be oil at sea being pushed by currents, which could reach as far south as Rio de Janeiro state.
President Jair Bolsonaro warned that "the worst is yet to come," saying only a fraction of the spilled crude had been collected so far.
The government has named a Greek-flagged tanker, the Bouboulina, as the prime suspect for being the source of the oil slicks. The tanker's operators have denied the vessel was to blame.
As the southern hemisphere's summer approaches, people dependent on the fishing and tourism industries are nervously waiting for test results to show if the water is safe to swim in and eat from.
Fishing in the region has been largely paralyzed by the oil spill, even in areas where crude has not been detected.
