A vehicle swamped by the sewage spill. SUR

A dozen vehicles flooded by sewage spill from pipe damaged by construction company

Furious residents in Malaga told SUR how they battled to rescue their parked cars. Rafael Torre said he was 'swimming' in excrement

Friday, 8 July 2022, 07:59

Work being carried out in a new residential area on the El Pato country estate caused a sewage spill from a burst pipe that affected Malaga's Sacaba Beach this week.

Furious residents told SUR how they battled to rescue their parked cars from the spill. Rafael Torre said he was “swimming” in excrement as he went to move his cars; others had managed to move their vehicles from a car park earlier.

"The construction company is reacting, right now I can't say anything bad about them," admits Rafael, who is unemployed.

"If they cover the repairs, fine; but if they decide that they can't fix it and the compensation is valued by the age of each car, it will be my total ruin," he said.

The extent of the damage has yet to be fully assessed, but the company that caused the damage to the pipe at the Sacaba sewage pumping station, Construcciones Verosa, has reported it to its insurance company so that it can contact the affected owners.

The construction company is currently cleaning up the area and repairing the affected pipes under the supervision of technicians from the municipal water company Emasa. According to Emasa, the incident was caused after groundwater surged through a newly opened trench, displacing a manhole cover which damaged a sewage pipe.