Nearly 1,000 treated due to burning sulphur south of Mosul

Record ID: 84076

  • Title: Nearly 1,000 treated due to burning sulphur south of Mosul
  • Date: 22nd October 2016
  • Summary: QAYYARA, IRAQ (OCTOBER 22, 2016) (REUTERS) PEOPLE STANDING IN STREET/SMOKE RISING FROM SULPHUR FACTORY HEAVY SMOKE RISING FROM SULPHUR FACTORY NEAR QAYYARA VARIOUS OF HOSPITAL ENTRANCE VARIOUS OF A MAN AND HIS SON WEARING FACE MASKS WHILE WAITING NEAR HOSPITAL ENTRANCE FATHER CARRYING CRYING CHILD CHILD COUGHING MEDICAL ASSISTANT PLACING MASK ON CHILD'S FACE VARIOUS OF FATHER HOLDING FACE MASK AGAINST HIS SON'S FACE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MEDICAL ASSISTANT, SADDAM JUMAA, SAYING: "The numbers have not been tallied. They could be anywhere from 700 to 1,000 patients. This is the number of people who came to this clinic beginning yesterday morning until this moment." JUMAA WITH A CHILD (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MEDICAL ASSISTANT, SADDAM JUMAA, SAYING: "The cases presented were suffocation, caused by the large fire in the Sulphur factory near Qayyara. Elderly men and women (were affected) as well as children, especially those with asthma and bronchitis, and other cases." JUMAA WITH A PATIENT
  • Embargoed: 6th November 2016 15:32
  • Keywords: Qayyara mosul burning sulphur burning oil wells treated
  • Location: QAYYARA, IRAQ
  • City: QAYYARA, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Military Conflicts
  • Reuters ID: LVA0015535KXZ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Nearly 1,000 people have been treated for breathing problems linked to fumes from a burning sulphur plant set ablaze during fighting with Islamic State near Mosul, local hospital said on Saturday (October 22).
    A sulphur plant caught fire this week as the Iraqi army dislodged militants from Mishraq, south of Mosul.
    No deaths were reported in connection with the incident, said sources at a hospital in Qayyara, also south of Mosul.
    The first cases began arriving on Friday (October 21) morning, they said.
    Children with relentless coughs came into a clinic in the district after breathing in the toxic fumes. Doctors treated them with oxygen masks.
    "The numbers have not been tallied. They could be anywhere from 700 to 1,000 patients," said medical assistant Saddam Jumaa.
    U.S officials said the militants set the plant ablaze. Iraqi state TV said it the fire has been put out on Saturday.
    A cloud of white smoke blanketed the region to the north, where the factory is located, mingling with black fumes from oil wells that the militants torched to cover their moves.
    The Qayyara West airfield is the main U.S. hub to support Iraqi-led operations to retake the city of Mosul from Islamic State.
    There are about 5,000 U.S. troops in Iraq but the U.S. military has not disclosed the number of personnel at the airfield.
    A Reuters reporter in Qayyara saw Iraqi soldiers wearing gas masks on top of their heads, ready to pull them down.
    Operation Inherent Resolve, the official name of the U.S-led anti-Islamic State coalition, said on Saturday it had provided more than 24,000 protective chemical masks to the Iraqi security forces and the allied Kurdish Peshmerga fighters during the training for the Mosul offensive.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register