On 20 March 1998, a molasses storage tank ruptures at the Melchor Ocampo Sugar Mill and spills molasses into a canal that flows into the Ayuquila River. During some 10 hours approximately 100 tons of molasses are released.
The molasses causes eutrophication in the river, where ultimately the increase in bacterial populations depletes all the oxygen in the water. Most fish, for a stretch of about 30 kms, die of suffocation or emigrate to unaffected streams. Dead fish are reported in the adjacent state of Colima some 100 km downstream.
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