Oil thieves cause damaging spill in Rio’s Estrela River

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Thieves who broke into a pipeline near Rio de Janeiro to steal oil caused a 4km spill of crude in waterways that is damaging mangroves and wildlife, the company and a Brazilian biologist said.

Transpetro, a pipeline subsidiary of state oil company Petrobras, said it was ‘a victim of criminal acts through the stealing of oil and derivatives’ and was cooperating with authorities in their investigations.

It said 60,000 litres of oil had leaked since Saturday into Estrela River feeding into Rio’s Guanabara Bay.

Transpetro said it repaired the pipeline and mobilised 400 people in response, and by Monday it had cleared 75 per cent of the spill.

Mauro Moscatelli, a biologist who has long pressed authorities to better protect Rio’s environment, said that while the scale of the spill was ‘medium’ it would be ‘very serious’ for flora and fauna.

‘The big problem is when oil enters into the soil of the mangrove forests which are extremely important for maintaining biodiversity’, in the area, he said.

“We’ll know in the next two weeks the extent of damage to the trees and the fauna that will die - especially crustaceans that are in their reproductive season right now.”