By Vivian Ariza and Olimar Salazar
A thick cloud of toxic smoke, coming from the José Antonio Anzoátegui (Jose) Petrochemical Complex, affected residents of El Pilar, one of the rural parishes of the Simón Bolívar municipality of the Anzoátegui state.
The emergency in that community occurred in the morning hours of this Thursday, November 6, due to the fire in the sulfur mountains (generating sulfur dioxide), which has been recorded since early morning in the yards of the Petrororaima company.
According to the report of the commander of the state Firefighters, Colonel Jesús Varela, on Wednesday afternoon the fire that started at the Petrocedeño facilities and was controlled, but restarted and spread to Petrororaima.
He said that the effects of these gases have caused fainting, vomiting, eye and respiratory irritation to residents of that community and that the educational institutions in El Pilar were evacuated.
Varela explained that sulfur dioxide concentrations were measured at 2 parts per million, which affects humans, and that the winds have been changing.
He highlighted that an alarm situation has also been generated in the towns of Caigua, Naricual, Curataquiche, Querecual and Barbacoa, but the concentration of smoke and odor decreased.
He stated that the state’s Fire and Civil Protection commissions are attending to the emergency.
Regarding the impact on the population, Varela confirmed the transfer of affected people to the town’s popular clinic and to remote areas, and although the eviction of all the inhabitants of El Pilar was being evaluated, the toxic cloud has decreased.
Commander Varela pointed out that in Jose the mutual aid of the different companies that operate in that complex was activated, managing to form three work fronts with heavy machinery and an international combat unit to control the fire.
They report the death of a septuagenarian
In an informative minute, the 75-year-old woman who died during the emergency due to toxic smoke was identified as Carmen Allen from Sabino.
The victim, a resident of Bolívar Street in El Pilar, also had an open wound on his head “as a result of a fall he suffered when he was leaving his residence to the health center, since he suffered from chronic respiratory disease, according to his family members.”
She was taken by firefighters to the Luis Razetti hospital in Barcelona, where she was admitted without vital signs.
Likewise, the eviction of more than 300 people from the Cecilio Acosta Educational Unit in Barbacoa was notified.
In Píritu, a town near the petrochemical complex, Mayor Lucía Córdova reported that monitoring was activated and clarified that it has not been necessary to evacuate institutions or schools.
63 people entered the outpatient clinic in Cumaná with symptoms of poisoning
From the Santa Fe outpatient clinic, located in the Sucre municipality (Cumaná), Sucre state; They reported the entry of about 63 people with symptoms of intoxication, after a fire allegedly occurred in the sulfur lagoon of the “General José Antonio Anzoátegui” Petrochemical and Oil Industrial Complex, located in the state of Anzoátegui.
The affected people who converge in rural communities located on the Cumaná – Puerto La Cruz national highway, entered the health center presenting difficulty breathing, the symptom of which is linked to the gases emanated from the burning in the industrial facility.
According to the residents of the town of Santa Fe, a cloud of smoke covered the area causing respiratory problems in people, who went to the health center to receive care.
