The near-shore habitats of Bahia Las Minas in the central Caribbean coast of Panama became heavily contaminated after a refinery accident in 1986. Over the next five years, there was a significant decline in the numbers and diversity of corals.
On April 20, 2010, the explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling platform claimed the lives of 11 workers and unleashed a torrent of more than four million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
