Gabes: people affected by chemical wastes causing skin burns

Gabes regional hospital's emergency department denied west Gabes inhabitants certificates related to the skin burns they are suffering, caused by the wastes dumped by the chemical complex in Sidi Abdessalem's beach.
Witnesses indicated to Radio Kalima that there was no indication on the billboards warning swimmers against any water pollution in this area, and there was no apparent sign of pollution. Chemicals wastes dumped in the sea were invisible, claimed a Chemical Complex Administration's source. It also pointed out that an excess of phosphorus and phosphogypsum dumped into the sea that day may have caused this infections for the first time. The same source said the ministry of environment had refused to classify Sidi Abdesalem's beach as unsuitable for swimming, fearing inhabitants' reaction. Moreover, the setting up of three complex factories' dumps only five kilometers from the mentioned beach is a sufficient reason to classify it among the most polluted areas on the coastal strip