Health emergency declared after Peru sewage dump

LIMA,PERU— Amidanunbearable stench, thousands of workers, police and soldiers struggled Wednesday to contain and clean up a flood of sewage that has caused the government to declare a health emergency in one of the most populous parts of Peru’s capital.

The foul flood was caused by a blockage in a giant pipe that collects 80 percent of the sewage in the San Juan de Lurigancho district. Adding a political element, the pipe was relocated about six years ago by Odebrecht, the Brazilian construction giant that is at the heart of a corruption scandal engulfing elites across Latin America, including Peru.

“It has become clogged: strange material has entered the collector,” said President Martin Vizcarra, who pledged to find those responsible and declared a health emergency.

Vizcarra said the pipe is buried at a depth of 30 feetand it “began to sink,” with dirty water flowing into low-lying areas of San Juan de Lurigancho, which has more than 1 million inhabitants.

More than 100 police officers rode horses through the waters while dozens of giant suction machines pulled up sewage.

Maria Cruz, 80, cried as she used a bucket of clean water to wash two small dolls that had adorned the top of her wedding cake decades ago.

“You can’t even breath here,” she said.