Chile’s navy confirms diesel oil spill in pristine Patagonia

In this photo distributed by the Chile Navy, sailors work to contain damage from an oil spill, on Guarello Island in Chile, Sunday, July 28, 2019. (AP)
Updated 29 July 2019
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Chile’s navy confirms diesel oil spill in pristine Patagonia

  • The spill affected a bay and the company said it installed a container sleeve in the area on Saturday and began removing oil from the environment immediately

SANTIAGO, Chile: Chile’s navy on Sunday confirmed the spillage of 40,000 liters of diesel oil into the sea in a remote and pristine area of the South American country’s Patagonia and said it is working to mitigate the effects.
A navy statement said it received a call from the mining company CAP on Saturday reporting the spill at the terminal of Guarello island, about 1,740 miles (2,800 kilometers) south from Santiago, Chile’s capital. The area is one of the planet’s most untouched with important biodiversity.
The navy said it had deployed ships to the area to control damage from the spill and an investigation had been launched.
“The marine pollution control center was activated,” Ronald Baasch, commander of the navy’s Third Naval Zone, told local media.
CAP released a statement saying the incident had already been contained. The spill affected a bay and the company said it installed a container sleeve in the area on Saturday and began removing oil from the environment immediately.


Trump says school strike that killed 150 people ‘done by Iran’

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Trump says school strike that killed 150 people ‘done by Iran’

  • Tehran has blamed the US for the strike, which happened in southern Iran’s Hormozgan province on Feb. 28
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE: President Donald Trump on Saturday blamed Iran for what the country’s authorities said was a deadly strike on a school in the southern town of Minab.
“We think it was done by Iran. Because they are very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
According to Iranian authorities, a strike hit a girls’ elementary school last Saturday, killing more than 150 people, mostly students.
Israel and the United States have not claimed responsibility for the reported attack — with US officials saying it remains under investigation — while Iran has blamed Washington for the strike.
AFP has neither been able to access the site in order to verify the incident, nor to obtain independent confirmation of a toll.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Friday they had targeted a US base in the UAE that they alleged had been used as a launchpad for the strike.
“Al-Dhafra air base, belonging to American terrorists in the region, was targeted using drones and precision missiles,” the Guards said in a statement broadcast on state TV.
The Pentagon has confirmed it is investigating, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the US would “not deliberately target a school.”
The New York Times newspaper reported Thursday that US military statements indicating forces were attacking naval targets near the Strait of Hormuz, where a Revolutionary Guards’ base is located, “suggest they were most likely to have carried out the strike.”
An analysis of social media posts from the time of the attack, as well as photos and videos from witnesses, indicated that the school had been struck at the same time as Guards’ naval base sites, the Times said.