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Colombia alerts public over river contamination
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-09-01 14:44

BOGOTA -- Colombian government on Sunday alerted residents in the country's four northern provinces not to drink water or eat fish from the Magdalena river, where at least 116 cans of cyanide sank after a ferry accident.

Luz Amanda Pulido, director of the Attention and Disasters Prevention Bureau,told the press that although the cans were sealed, it is still possible the cyanide could spill out.

At least seven trucks sank in the river in the accident that took place near the city of Gamarra in the northeastern province of El Cesar early Saturday morning. As there were cyanide and other fuels on one of the sunken trucks, all the river's aqueducts were ordered to be closed.

Environment expert Oscar Encenares said that the situation is "alarming" because the river water could tear open the cans since they are made of material less endurable than plastic.

The water is flowing towards the riverside, the shallow water zone, which bears the river's lives. If the water is polluted, it could kill the fishes, said Encenares.

He warned the country's authorities to take action against the possible contamination.

Divers from the Colombian army have been dispatched to test whether the water has been poisoned and to determine the location of the pollution, said a government spokesman.

Magdalena is the principal river of Colombia, which crosses at least seven provinces from north to south and is their major source of water supply.