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.
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