Three months after an oil spill that polluted beaches and killed wildlife in Peru, hundreds of fishermen remain out of work as Easter approaches.
“We never imagined spending such a sad Holy Week because normally people eat fish at this time,” Anthony Chumpitaz, president of a local traditional fishermen association, told AFP.
Almost 12,000 barrels of crude spilled into the sea off Peru on January 15 as a tanker unloaded oil at a refinery owned by Spanish energy giant Repsol in Ventanilla, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of Lima.
Carried by ocean currents, the oil spread some 140 kilometers northwards, killing hundreds of sea birds and forcing fishermen to abandon their work due to pollution described as an ecological disaster by the government.
At least 5,000 traditional fishermen and traders in Lima and the neighboring province of Huaral have been affected by the spill, according to the government.