Two women in the U.S. state of Arkansas on Friday filed a lawsuit against energy giant ExxonMobil for an oil spill caused by a pipeline rupture last week.
The company's Pegasus Pipeline ruptured last Friday in the Northwoods neighborhood of the Arkansas city of Mayflower, leaving heavy crude oil covering yards and streets in the area. Cleanup is still ongoing.
In the class-action lawsuit, Mayflower residents Kimla Greene and Kathryn Jane Roachell Chunn stated that "defendants are strictly liable for ultra-hazardous conditions that proximately cause injuries to people," according to local TV channel KTHV.
The lawsuit, according to the report, said that part of the pipeline that ruptured was "in an unsafe, defective and deficient condition presenting an immediate environmental harm" on the day it ruptured.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has categorized the incident as a major spill, indicating a release of more than 250 barrels of oil.
