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‘We can’t breathe’, say KZN residents after chemical warehouse fire
Residents in the vicinity of the smoldering chemical warehouse have reported breathing difficulties, burning skin, and asthma attacks.
A member of a spill cleaning crew removes dead fish from the river in the uMhlanga Lagoon Nature Reserve in Durban on July 18, 2021. South African authorities said on July 17, 2021, they were investigating possible pollution suspected to be linked to a spill at a chemical plant attacked during last week’s riots after dead fish washed ashore. The spill was identified on July 15, after an agrochemical warehouse near the eastern port city of Durban storing chemicals used for making herbicides, pesticides and fungicides was set ablaze. African authorities are investigating possible pollution suspected to be linked to a spill at a chemical plant attacked during recent riots in area. The agrochemical warehouse which stores chemicals used for making herbicides, pesticides and fungicides was set ablaze during the unrest that started last week. (Photo by GUILLEM SARTORIO / AFP)
Residents of Umhlanga in KwaZulu-Natal have reported sudden ailments, including difficulty breathing, spontaneous nose bleeds, coughing up blood, and seemingly healthy people suffering asthma attacks, since the fire which destroyed a chemical warehouse in the area last week.
Battling a cacophony of dry coughs, Umhlanga Ridge resident Lyndall Valentine told The Citizen voice how she had to book herself into a hotel in Ballito, just so she could have some respite and breathe some fresh air. The price of the hotel stay meant this break didn’t last long though, and was forced to move back to her neighbourhood that now feels like hell on Earth.
“I am literally choking, my throat is swollen and my skin is burning, with rush and chemical peel. I feel like I am dying. I just cannot breathe,” the 37-year-old resident said.
Valentine lives less than a kilometre from the United Phosphorus Limited’s (UPL) warehouse in Cornubia, which was set alight on Monday by rioters at the height of violence sparked by the arrest of former president Jacob Zuma.
The WhatsApp group she immediately established after getting ill has more than 60 people with similar symptoms and the biggest concern is that they did not know what toxic material they were inhaling.
Michelle de Sousa, 47, lives about five kilometres from the warehouse and sounded exactly like Valentine over the phone – a hoarse voice, and coughing, while she exhibited shallow breathing and a wheezing chest.
Her condition is more severe as she had an operation on her oesophagus just two months ago, and she thought she was well on her road to recovery until the toxic cloud descended on her neighbourhood.
De Sousa’s long list of symptoms range from swollen glands, severe back and neck pain, dizziness, nausea, trembling hands, and body aches.
“I am about 5Km from the warehouse but the smell is so strong, it’s as if I am standing right next to it. I am sick. I have been so tired, I have been sleeping all day. My mom has been sick for a couple days also, and my three kids all started to complain of headaches, had fever, dry mouth and nausea,” she said.
Authorities also in the dark
Sadly the authorities are themselves none the wiser about exactly what kind of chemicals burnt for days in the agrochemical warehouse, making it impossible to ascertain what health hazards they posed to the public.
Dr Zakhele Dlamini, responsible for compliance in eThekwini municipality, said the Indian agrochemical giant has provided the list of the chemicals stored in the warehouse but that this was not sufficient.
Environmental Health Manager Bruce Dale did not say whether there has been any hospitalisation linked to the hazardous fumes but said they were investigating complaints.
He said they were also conducting air quality impact and community exposure assessment.
“There was a lot of volatiles going off, big black smoke that travelled a distance.” he said.
