More toxic waste sent to France

2006-11-08 14:24

Abidjan - A second shipment of thousands of tons of toxic petroleum waste, blamed for the deaths of 10 people, has left Ivory Coast for re-processing in France, says the government.

The waste had been removed from more than a dozen open-air rubbish tips around the economic capital, Abidjan, where it had been dumped illicitly.

In addition to the 10 deaths, 69 people had to be hospitalised and doctors received more than 100 000 calls for medical help.

According to an official in the prime minister's office, a Bahamas-flagged vessel, the CEC Enterprise, left the port of Abidjan on Tuesday evening with a cargo of 2 321 tons of waste sealed in some 130 containers.

6 000 tons of the waste to be shipped

A first load of about 2 300 tons of waste arrived in the French port of Le Havre on Tuesday. The government said a third ship was expected in Abidjan on Friday.

In all, at least 6 000 tons of the waste were to be shipped out of the west African country by the end of the week.

The waste was to be incinerated at a special plant near the eastern French city of Lyon under an agreement between the governments of Ivory Coast and former colonial ruler, France.

French firm Tredi was brought in on September 17 to tackle the waste poisoning Abidjan, a city of four million inhabitants.

The toxic sludge had been dumped there in mid-August by Ivorian firm, Tommy, whose boss was arrested after the poisoning scandal broke.

Victims of the pollution had brought a lawsuit in the Netherlands against Swiss-based multinational Trafigura, which chartered the vessel that offloaded the waste in Ivory Coast.

- AFP