Al Shawahiyyu Industrial Incident
| Native name | حادثة الشواهيو الصناعية |
|---|---|
| Date | March 24 – April 2, 1988 |
| Location | Al Shawahiyyu, Shawayiyyah Province, Salamat |
| Type | Industrial incident |
| Cause | Leak of caustic soda and dioxin in the air |
| Outcome | Propagation of the caustic soda and dioxin cloud in the region for a little more than a week before dissolving |
| Deaths | 0 |
The Al Shawahiyyu Industrial Accident (Arabic : حادثة الشواهيو الصناعية) was an accident which occured on March 24 1988 in Al Shawahiyyu, 45 kilometers northwest of Sidi Ghalmat, in Salamat, after the leak of a caustic soda and dioxin cloud in the Harraki factory, which lasted 30 minutes. The accident had a big impact on industrial regulations in Salamat.
Timeline of the incident
The cloud leaked of one of the reactors of the factory on March 24 1988. The leak occured at 10:10 am local time (11:10 am UTC) on March 24 1988 and was fixed 30 minutes later. The cloud, composed primarily of caustic soda and small amount of dioxin, travelled during a whole week in the region.
Workers stopped working from the 25 of March to the 28 of March in order to protect themselves.
The cloud was located above the big city of Sidi Ghalmat on the 26, then the cloud headed eastward to the city of Ramzuz, which was much more populated.
On the 27th of March, the authorities identify the gases as "caustic soda and dioxins" but hide it to the general population to maintain order.
Workers of the factory started a strike on the 28 to protest against the working conditions in the factory. It was maintained until April 16th.
The authorities started evacuating a 15 kilometer perimeter around the factory on the afternoon of March 29.
The cloud reached Ramzuz on the 29 and continued its route to the east to the city of Al Muhni before heading into the sea on the 30 and eventually dissolve over the ocean on the 1 or the 2 of April, after gaining more altitude and eventually starting to empty itself by starting a toxic corrosive rain.
Consequences
The toll of the disaster is heavy ; A surface area of 403 km² is contaminated ; 32 villages and towns were affected. On the 16 297 inhabitants of the area at the time, 7 391 were affected by chloracne, and 1 922 of them still have sequels. No one is dead ; but numerous lives were ruined and the population was forced to move in other areas. Some people affected even had fertility issues due to dioxins which are endocrine disruptors. In 1990, the government started decontaminating soils and houses. The decontamination ended in 2009. The rain in the sea was catastrophic ; a lot of dead fishes were found on beaches between April 5th and May 28th. After inspection, it is clear that the fishes were contaminated by the toxic elements. Oueds were also polluted, like the Oued Harit, where the factory was built. The water cycle made that more toxic clouds formed in the atmosphere, although they must've contained less gases than the original cloud. The factory was demolished in April 1999.
The director of the factory, Ali Abu Hisham, was sentenced to 18 years of prison for his responsibility for the disaster. He was also forced to give 8 billion dinars to the persons affected by the incident. He died in 2010. The Minsitry of People's Safety, Khalid Shawad, was executed in August 1989 for hiding the incident.
After this incident, more industrial regulations were adopted in Salamat.