At Miramar Beach in Peru's popular resort of Ancon, there are no bathers despite the summer heat. Instead, it teems with workers in coveralls cleaning up an oil spill.

Almost a million liters (264,000 gallons) of crude spilled into the sea on Saturday when a tanker was hit by waves while offloading at La Pampilla refinery in Ventanilla, 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of Lima.

Its owner, Spanish oil company Repsol, attributed the accident to the swell caused by the volcanic eruption in Tonga, thousands of miles away.

"Oil reaches the beach during high tide at night... and deposits the oil on the shore," Martin Martinez of the NGO AMAAC Peru, supervising the cleanup, told AFP.

"We take advantage to remove it from the sea, that and the saturated sand," he said.

The spill has dealt a blow to tourism in the popular resort, and to businesses who make most of their money in the summer season.

"There were many people until Sunday; the stain arrived on Monday, and since then, no one is swimming anymore," said 48-year-old Richard Gutierrez, who has a food and soda stand on Miramar beach.

"We cannot sell anything, there are no vacationers, there is no one" apart from about 100 cleanup workers -- soldiers, Repsol hired hands and volunteers -- removing the polluted sand with spades to be taken to a toxic waste treatment facility.

- 'Ecological disaster' -

Peru's government has declared the spill of some 6,000 barrels of oil an "ecological disaster" and has demanded compensation from Repsol.

The company denies responsibility, saying maritime authorities had issued no warning of freak waves after the Tonga eruption.

The task, which began Tuesday, is an arduous one.

The workers deposit the polluted sand onto blue tarps, which are dragged to a pile further inland, awaiting removal to another site.

Work begins at 8:00 am and finishes at 6:00 pm, with a 30-minute break for lunch.

No one knows how long it will take to clean up the affected stretch of coastline, but in Miramar, it is estimated it will last at least two weeks.

The environment ministry said 174 hectares -- equivalent to 270 football fields -- of coast were affected, and some 118 hectares at sea.

Marine currents have dispersed the oil all the way to the coast of Chancay district, more than 40 kilometers from where the spill occurred.

The health ministry has identified 21 affected beaches and warned bathers to stay away.

The spill has also affected hundreds of artisanal fishermen who operate on the central Peruvian coast.

They rely on catches of sole, lorna drum and Peruvian grunt -- fish commonly used in the local delicacy ceviche, a marinated raw fish dish Peru is famous for.

Rains cause flood damage in Peru's Machu Picchu
Lima (AFP) Jan 21, 2022 - Strong rains in the town of Machu Picchu, next to the Inca citadel of the same name that is Peru's top tourist draw, washed away railroads and bridges Friday, officials said.

Flooding of the Alccamayo river interrupted train services, the regional government of Cusco department said.

Houses near the river were flooded, and one person was injured with another missing, civil defense officials said.

Peru Rail company, one of two that provides transport in the region, said in a statement that trains have been cancelled until further notice.

Some 447,800 people visited the Machu Picchu site in 2021, a figure reduced by the pandemic and far lower than the usual 1.5 million per year.

Peru's economy declined 11.12 percent in 2020 and was in recession until June last year, with tourism the hardest-hit sector with a decline of more than 50 percent.

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