Excess detergents from homes that drain into streams feeding the Valsequillo reservoir caused suds to accumulate, authorities say

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A Mexican man is feared dead after he posed for a photograph alongside a 6m-high (19.7ft) mass of soap suds on a heavily polluted stream – and apparently fell into the quivering mass.

Emergency teams in the central state of Puebla are still looking for the man, who fell into the mass of suds earlier this week.

Firefighters, police and civil protection officials deployed fans to blow away the blanket of soap suds in an attempt to find the man, a 30-year-old real estate adviser who was identified by local media by his first name, Juan Ignacio.

El Sol de Puebla (@elsoldepuebla1) La acumulación de espuma que cubrió parte de la presa de Valsequillo es una mezcla de fosfato y residuos contaminantes, no es un baño de burbujas ☢️ https://t.co/NXGy9sQqPw

According to report in El Sol de Puebla newspaper, the man had stopped by the towering soap suds on Sunday evening and asked a female colleague travelling with him take a photo.

The unnamed colleague told El Sol de Puebla that while she prepared the phone to take a photo, she lost sight of Juan Ignacio – and he never emerged from the froth.

Before long, the man’s white Suzuki Swift was soon engulfed in the foam. Rescuers eventually found the vehicle on Monday, but there was no sign of Juan Ignacio.

The soap suds contain phosphates and other toxic residues in the streams feeding the Valsequillo reservoir, according to environmentalists.

“This foam isn’t a bubble bath – it is full of contaminants,” local activist Verónica Mastretta Guzmán told El Sol de Puebla. “Local authorities and the water company are unable to control all the pollutants which are poured into the drains.”

The man was not the suds’ first victim: one local resident told El Sol de Puebla the blob had previously swallowed one of his dogs.