The mysterious death pit swallows Ecuador's largest waterfall

As part of the Cayambe Coca National Park, in Ecuador's Amazon rainforest, San Rafael falls are attracting tens of thousands of tourists every year. However, that's all we have known in the past, but on February 2, this majestic 150-meter waterfall suddenly stopped flowing after a death pit was hidden. into the Coca River and cause it to flow in three small streams.

That has caused all tourism activities to come to this place to be closed and the waterfall is no longer even appearing on Ecuador's official tourist website.

In the words of an Ecuadorian official, it is likely that the waterfall will become part of history from now on and it will not be able to return to its former state, and it is likely that the current situation will be a good ending. Suddenly for the waterfall was once considered the largest waterfall of South America.

The sudden appearance of the death pit has led many researchers to suspect that the cause may have been the construction of the country's largest hydroelectric plant on the Coca River.

Emilio Cobo, coordinator of the South American Water Program at the International Union for Conservation of Nature, says these are consequences of scientific papers and that there is sufficient evidence that a dam has could cause this kind of impact on the river.

However, some geologists like Alfredo Carrasco think that the waterfall is located in the volcanic activity area, so it is very likely that its collapse is a natural phenomenon, although this phenomenon. unprecedented in Ecuador's history.

Although the river is still flowing, according to local geological experts, three new tributaries formed after the appearance of the death pit could cause erosion, creating a river upstream and altering it. valley terrain.