1,500 Workers Clean Up Oil Spill in Veracruz
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About 1,500 workers in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz struggled to clean oil and oil-soaked sand and vegetation after 5,000 barrels of crude leaked into a river leading into the Gulf of Mexico.
Mexico’s state-owned oil monopoly, Petroleos Mexicanos, known as Pemex, said that by Friday, workers had recovered about half the oil that spilled after an explosion at a pumping station near Santiago Tuxtla, southeast of Mexico City. Five people were hurt in the blast.
The oil slick spread over three miles of Gulf coast beaches. Officials said it could take five or six more days to complete the cleanup.
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