Thousands of troops deployed by Brazil amid fury at worst oil spill in country's history

Brazil’s government has sent 5,000 troops to clean up a massive oil spill polluting its beaches after facing mounting anger over its failure to tackle the environmental crisis.

The black sludge was first spotted washing ashore more than seven weeks ago and has since spread along 2,250km of the northeastern coast between Maranhao and Bahia.

As officials struggled to deal with the threat to marine wildlife and the tourist industry, it was left to local residents, volunteers and community groups to clean up the oil themselves, with many using their bare hands.

The apparent lack of a coordinated national response prompted a state senator to accuse the president, Jair Bolsonaro, of incompetence.

“The indignation at the government’s neglect is huge,” said Humberto Costa, who represents Pernambuco, one of the nine states affected. ”Forgotten by the president, the people took the reins of the situation and went alone to save their coast.”

Describing the spill as “the largest environmental disaster in history”, he asked: “How will the northeast survive now, in the high season, when tourism is one of the main activities, with beaches full of oil?”

Mr Costa added: “We are facing an incompetent government that has done nothing for weeks.”

Public concern at the catastrophe prompted the players of the football team Sport Club Bahia to play their match on Monday with black oil stains on their shirts.

Federal courts in Pernambuco and Alagoas states ordered the government to install protection barriers around sensitive natural areas and ecosystems such as mangroves, rivers and sea turtle spawning areas.

On the same day, Hamilton Mourao, the vice-president, confirmed that 5,000 troops would be sent to join the 1,500 air force and navy personnel working in the area.

“The most we can do today is have trained people to collect this oil that is reaching our beaches,” he said.

More than 1,000 tonnes of oil have already been collected from the beaches, the government claimed.

Mr Bolsonaro, who is visiting Japan and China this week, has previously sought to blame Venezuela for what he called a “criminal action”.

Ricardo Salles, his environment minister, claimed during a series of television and radio broadcasts that tests on the oil revealed that it “comes from wells and mixtures of Venezuelan origin”.

He added that the president would send a formal request to the Organisation of American States “for Venezuela to express its opinion on the material collected”.

Mr Bolsonaro, who is already under pressure over his response to large-scale forest fires in the Amazon, also targeted Greenpeace, falsely claiming that the group had refused to help with the clean-up operation, and accusing members of being “ecoterrorists”.

On Wednesday the environmental campaign group protested against the government’s “destructive” environmental policy by pouring oil outside the presidential palace.

Additional reporting by Associated Press