YUGOSLAVIA: UNITED NATIONS SAY SERB-RUN SMELTER IS POISONING AIR IN NORTHERN KOSOVO.

Record ID: 337907

  • Title: YUGOSLAVIA: UNITED NATIONS SAY SERB-RUN SMELTER IS POISONING AIR IN NORTHERN KOSOVO.
  • Date: 10th August 2000
  • Summary: NEAR MITROVICA, KOSOVO, YUGOSLAVIA (AUGUST 9, 2000) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV/MV: VARIOUS OF ZVECAN POWER PLANT (4 SHOTS) 0.17 NEAR MITROVICA, KOSOVO, YUGOSLAVIA (FILE) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 2. GV/MV: VARIOUS OF TREPCA MINIING COMPLEX (4 SHOTS) 0.35 MITROVICA, KOSOVO, YUGOSLAVIA (AUGUST 9, 2000) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 3. VARIOUS: INTERIORS OF HOSPITAL/ PATIENTS BEING TREATED (13 SHOTS) 1.35 4. MCU: SOUNDBITE (Albanian) DOCTOR BAGRAM PRETENI, SPECIALIST IN INTERNAL DISEASES: "The number of patients being admitted to the hospital has increased in the last week. People have complained of vomitting, diarrhoea and breathing difficulties" 2.00 5. MV: PATIENTS BEING TREATED IN HOSPITAL 2.14 PRISTINA, KOSOVO, YUGOSLAVIA (AUGUST 9, 2000) (REUTERS) 6. GV/SV: WIDE OF UNITED NATIONS MISSION IN KOSOVO (UNMIK) NEWS CONFERENCE/ JOURNALISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE (2 SHOTS) 2.23 7. MCU: SOUNDBITE (English) SUSAN MANUEL, UNMICK SPOKESWOMAN: "Public health campaign to address the rising levels of lead detected in the air in the region of Mitrovica and in the blood of people workign in the Mitrovica area, particularly downstream from the Zvecan smelter. Recent measurements have shown that the amounts of lead in the air in this area are more than two hundred times the levels recommended as acceptable by the World Health Organisation. Blood tests on Danish and French soldiers have revealed, as we reported earlier, unacceptably high levels of lead" 2.58 8. MV: JOURNALISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE 3.05 MITROVICA, KOSOVO, YUGOSLAVIA (AUGUST 9, 2000) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 9. GV: K-FOR SOLDIERS GUARDING BRIDGE DIVIDING NORTH AND SOUTH MITROVICA (2 SHOTS) 3.15 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 25th August 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEAR MITROVICA, MITROVICA AND PRISTINA, KOSOVO, YUGOSLAVIA
  • City:
  • Country: Yugoslavia
  • Reuters ID: LVA7667ECEAMLY35AWFH24AMNAK1
  • Story Text: The United Nations has warned that a Serb-run lead
    smelter is poisoning the air in northern Kosovo and says it
    has started a campaign to warn of the dangers to health.


    U.N. officials in Kosovo believe the Zvecan smelter
    near Mitrovica is pumping out fumes containing five times more
    lead than the level considered very dangerous by a World
    Health Organisation report in 1992.

    Zvecan forms part of the giant Trepca mining complex which
    straddles the ethnic divide in the city of Mitrovica, which is
    half-run by Serbs and half-occupied by ethnic Albanians.

    The French and Danish defence ministries have complained
    about the threat to the health of their troops, who work in
    the area as part of the NATO-led peacekeeping operation
    guarding the province since Serb forces were pushed out in
    July 1999.

    The Trepca group consists of 14 lead and zinc mines, nine
    flotation plants, two metallurgy plants and 14 factories. The
    complex is the largest zinc metallurgy operation in Europe.

    The UN says pollution levels have risen alarmingly since
    Serb workers restarted the lead smelter in June.

    The Albanian hospital has reported higher number of
    admittances.

    "People have complained of vomitting, diarrhoea and
    breathing difficulties", said Doctor Bagram Preteni.

    "Recent measurements have shown that the amounts of lead
    in the air in this area are more than two hundred times the
    levels recommended as acceptable by the World Health
    Organisation", UNMIK Spokeswoman, Susan Manuel told a news
    conference in Pristina, adding that blood tests on Danish and
    French soldiers had revealed unacceptably high levels of lead.

    UN officials, who are responsible for Kosovo's economy
    under post-conflict Security Council resolutions, have been in
    contact with plant managers and aree hopeful steps would be
    taken to remedy the situation.

    Serbs were pushed out of southern Mitrovica after the
    78-day NATO bombing campaign but held onto the north of the
    city, forming the largest concentration of Serbs remaining in
    Kosovo.

    Their tenacious hold on the north bank of the River Ibar,
    a refusal to allow ethnic Albanians to return to their homes
    and their sporadic attacks on non-Serbs living in their midst
    have left the city volatile and prone to sudden upsurges of
    violence.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register