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Mata Sao Joao, in the state of Bahia - one of the nine affected states - on October 26, 2019. Volunteers are cleaning up a beach polluted with fuel cakes. REUTERS / Lucas Landau

Hundreds of kilometers of coast have been stained for two months by oil stains whose origin is still unknown. The ecological, economic and health impact is already felt for the inhabitants as well as for the fauna and flora of this region. Report in Boipeba.

With our special correspondent in Boibeba, Sarah Cozzolino

In Boipeba, off the bay of Salvador de Bahia, the population of the small island is left to clean the beaches.

It is not the night that stops the volunteers but the rising tide. Harvesting oil cakes on the fine sand is a real job. Flushed face and red eyes, João Arantes is exhausted. " I feel completely helpless. And it's scary because we managed to clean the beach and it is completely dirty again ... It's very frustrating. "

A large part of the inhabitants of Boipeba Island, who has left everything to settle in this corner of paradise, will stop at nothing to preserve it. In the absence of state support, volunteers organized a kitty to buy protective gear such as gloves, masks or boots.

The worst ecological disaster

" There is not one person who does not have a headache, who has no eye or nose problems, who does not smell like oil all day long. But none will say that it is a problem, "says Felipe Baxter who coordinates the volunteers.

The Brazilian government has not yet identified the origin of this spill. A guilty silence, according to Nilton Freitas, who has been living on the island for ten years. " We do not know the quantity that can happen, the strategies we must use ... We are in total ignorance. The only thing I know is that it will take years to repair itself. "

Coral, mangrove and protected species like some turtles are already affected by the oil spill, considered the worst ecological disaster of the Brazilian coastline.

The UN on Tuesday expressed " deep concern " at the mysterious oil spill that has hit northeastern Brazil for two months and offered its help to local authorities. " The United Nations in Brazil expresses deep concern over oil (which affects) the coastline of nine northeastern states since August, and regrets the incalculable damage to the marine and terrestrial ecosystems, as well as in the life local populations, "the Brazilian UN office said in a statement on 29 October.

The international organization recalls that the oil spill has already affected " almost a quarter " of the 7,000 km of Atlantic coastline of Brazil, " with serious consequences for the environment and the security of the population ".