indigenous

Peruvian Amazon

Mayuriaga

Members of antribe in thetook eight public officials hostage as they demanded help after an oil spill polluted their land, reports the Daily Mirror.Authorities said the Wampis people, who live in, seized a grounded military helicopter late on Sunday, taking at least eight people hostage. They reportedly held crew members and officials, demanding help from the government and to be included in the emergency response plan.German Velasquez, president of state-owned energy company Petroperu, confirmed details of the hostage situation on Monday. A rupture in the company’s 40-year-old pipeline spilled 1,000 barrels of oil in Mayuriaga on February 3. It came nine days after a leak in the same duct poured 2,000 barrels near eight other indigenous communities in the same Amazonian region. Environmental regulator OEFA ordered Petroperu to replace parts of the pipeline after repeated leaks in recent years. It said the two most recent spills polluted at least two rivers, including a tributary to the Amazon River.