‘Worst ecological disaster’ triggered by volcano off Peru coast

Peru orders an oil company to compensate for the spill caused by a tsunami

The spill at the La Pampilla refinery, near the Peruvian capital, is “the worst ecological disaster that has occurred in Lima in recent times,” the Peruvian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, adding that Spanish oil company Repsol “must immediately compensate the damage.”

The ministry said the spill endangered the flora and fauna in two natural conservation zones covering more than 18,000 square kilometers (6,950 square miles).

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Repsol released a statement, saying they were setting up containment booms and conducting coastal and beach cleanup in the affected areas. The company claimed that the spill from a tanker unloading crude oil was caused by “high tidal waves” formed by an underwater eruption of the remote South Pacific Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano on Friday.

The company’s spokesperson, Tine van den Wall Bake Rodriguez, told reporters that Repsol should not be blamed for the disaster. She said the company initially failed to realize the magnitude of the situation because the oil flows traveled along the bottom of the ocean and were not immediately visible. Rodriguez added that the Peruvian Navy did not issue a tsunami alert at the time. 

Giacomo Morote, the head of the Navy’s oceanography department, said the eruption was a rare and “extraordinary event” that did not correspond to the existing guidelines of the warning system.

China ‘warns off’ US destroyer

American warship’s mission violated China’s sovereignty, Beijing says 

The Chinese military said naval and aerial assets were deployed on Tuesday in response to a so-called freedom of navigation mission conducted by the guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold in the South China Sea.

The Arleigh Burke-class ship “illegally entered” the area near the Paracel Islands – which Beijing calls the Xisha Islands and claims are under its sovereignty – a spokesman for the Southern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) reported on Thursday. The command dispatched naval and air forces to follow and ultimately “warn off” the American warship, the spokesman, Colonel Tian Junli, said.

He said the passage of the ship “seriously violated China’s sovereignty and security” and warned that unless Washington ceases such activities, “it will bear the serious consequences of unforeseen events.”

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The US Navy wouldn’t immediately comment on the operation, but said it would soon release a statement, according to Reuters.

The USS Benford previously was deployed to conduct a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) in early September 2021 near the contested Mischief Reef, which was subjected by China to a massive land reclamation effort. The PLA at the time likewise reported making the US warship leave its claimed waters.

The South China Sea is one of the busiest shipping routes in the world, and China considers it essential to its national security. Various islands there are claimed by regional powers, including China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines. The US doesn’t support any nation’s claims and routinely sails FONOPs to challenge Beijing’s assertions of sovereignty.