from viewzone.com/pirates.html
"The town's residents are more concerned with the dumping of toxic waste than piracy... this dumping has been going on for a very long time. In 1991 the government collapsed in this African Nation and certain large corporations took advantage of this. European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping thousands of barrels of toxic waste into the ocean. The coastal population began to get sick. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies and many other symptoms but lacking proper medical attention much was overlooked. Then after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness and more than 300 died.
A few nights ago, some tanks came out from the high sea and they cracked it seems and now they are leaking into the water and into the air.
The first people fell ill yesterday afternoon. People are reporting mysterious illnesses; they are talking about it as though it were chicken pox -- but it is not exactly like that either. Their skin is bad. They are sneezing, coughing and vomiting.
This is the first time it has been like this; that people have such very, very bad sickness. The people who have these symptoms are the ones who wake early, before it is light, and herd their livestock to the shore to graze. The animals are sick from drinking the water and the people who washed in the water are now suffering. "
Words of Ex-Somali Army Colonel Mohamed Nureh Abdulle lives in Harardhere - the town closest to where the hijacked Saudi oil tanker, Sirius Star is moored.
May 2008
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