The number of people poisoned by highly toxic waste that was dumped on open-air sites in Abidjan by a foreign ship has risen from 1 500 to more than 5 000 people, the country’s health ministry said on Saturday, drastically increasing the toll of those affected.
”By yesterday [Friday] we had counted more than 5 000 people in health centres” for problems linked to the toxic poisoning, the ministry’s spokesperson Simeon N’Da said.
”The number of deaths remains unchanged at three,” he added.
Côte d’Ivoire’s entire Cabinet resigned on Wednesday over the poisoning scandal and an inter-ministerial committee was set up to handle the crisis.
International waste disposal, health and environmental experts have arrived to help the skeleton administration, which has announced an emergency plan to neutralise the toxic fumes from the waste.
The toxic matierial was dumped onto open-air sites in Abidjan, the country’s commercial capital and largest city, three weeks ago by a Panamanian-registered ship.
The toxic material — 400 tonnes of oil refining waste, rich in organic matter and very toxic elements, according to environmental pressure group Greenpeace — was dumped at about 10 sites across Abidjan, a city of four million people.
It contains hydrogen sulphide and organochloride, which are both poisonous and can cause nausea, rashes, fainting, diarrhoea and headaches.
The Greek company that owns the vessel, Prime Marine Management, confirmed the waste had been discharged but said the action was lawful.
The Probo Koala was chartered by a Netherlands-based company, which says an Ivorian firm had been entrusted with handling the unloaded waste. – Sapa-AFP