Toxins released in Busk District > Lvivska Oblast

[Hannia]

Train carrying phosphorus derails in Ukraine, contaminating area - International Herald Tribune

Train carrying phosphorus derails in Ukraine, contaminating area - International Herald Tribune

[V-G]

Train Carrying Toxic Cargo Derails In Ukraine - RADIO FREE EUROPE / RADIO LIBERTY

Train Carrying Toxic Cargo Derails In Ukraine
Ukraine – A smoke billowing form the site where a freight train carrying yellow phosphorus derailed in western Ukraine, 16Jul2007
Smoke from the phosphorus fire has spread over 90 square kilometers
(Ukrinform)
July 17, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- A freight train carrying toxic yellow phosphorus derailed on the evening of July 16 in western Ukraine, sparking a fire and a poisonous cloud that has contaminated over a dozen nearby villages, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reported.

Fifteen rail cars overturned when the train, traveling from Kazakhstan to Poland, derailed near Lviv on the Polish border. Of those, six caught fire, spreading a poison cloud over 90 square kilometers.

"The [poison] cloud has affected 14 villages in the Busk district, where some 11,000 people live," Pavlo Vasylevskyy, the press secretary for the Lviv branch of the Emergency Situations Ministry, said today.

Vasylevskyy added that a government committee ordered the evacuation of 793 people, 472 of whom left the area on their own.

Toxic Cloud Spreads

Twenty people, including emergency workers and local residents, suffered inhalation injuries after the liquefied yellow phosphorus combusted, forming the toxic cloud.

Yellow phosphorus is highly flammable and can catch fire spontaneously upon contact with air, creating a distinctive garlic smell. The substance is highly toxic, and can cause liver damage when ingested.

Residents have been advised to stay inside their homes with their windows closed, and to avoid drinking well water and cow milk, or eating local produce.

Yulia Meshanka, who lives in the town of Brody, some 20 kilometers from the place of the accident, told RFE/RL that locals were panicking.

"We did not have enough information," Meshanka said. "Nobody knew what was true. We were told not to leave our houses, do not allow kids to go outside, to seal our homes. We used wet towels and blankets to seal the windows and we continually changed them to keep them wet."

She said people were glued to their radio stations to get information about the danger and ways to survive.

A local senior priest, Father Petro from the Busk region where the accident took place, told RFE/RL that people are worried.

"We are trying, as best we can, to help children and to take them to places not affected by this terrible poison," Petro said. "For adults it is advised to leave and some have left to relatives or friends. But you know people are afraid to leave their belongings as they might be robbed."

Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk visited the site and compared the accident to the Chornobyl nuclear crisis in 1986, saying that "we are again dealing with a case that can pose a real threat for the Ukrainian people."

Kuzmuk said a probe has been opened into what caused the 58-car train to derail. "The Prosecutor-General's Office has already opened a criminal case, the Interior Ministry and the Security Service were given appropriate tasks," he said. "We have to learn why it happened."

Phosphorus compounds are chiefly used in fertilizers. They are also important components of pesticides, toothpaste, and detergents, as well as explosives, nerve agents, and fireworks.

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What a terrible thing to happen!

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152 people ill after toxic fire in Ukraine - USATODAY.com


Does anyone know of the effect on Ivano-Frankivsk region? How about Ternopil'? If you find anything, please post.

[Hannia]

Ukraine: media riddles around the phosphorous cloud

Ukraine: media riddles around the phosphorous cloud

The available information about the phosphorous cloud following the railway accident in the Ukraine last Monday is becoming more and more cryptic.

The political involvement of most media and other factors are causing contradictions among official sources that are making press work extremely hard. Moreover, nobody is permitted to reach the accident location. The site of the accident was closed to visitors following the intoxication of three TV journalists who got too close.

Location of the cloud

TV channel Novyj Kanal translated a telephonic interview with officers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs during which the existence of any cloud whatsoever is firmly denied. Immediately after the interview a press conference by Kiev mayor, Mr. Leonid Chernovezkij, announces that starting next Monday a daily report about the movements of the same cloud will be available to the population. The service will be provided by the Kiev administration.

In an interview to TV channel UT-1 an officer of the ecological service admitted that they have no real data about the area closer to the accident, because not even government officers are permitted to reach it. The officer said that most data about the hypothetical movements of the cloud (if the cloud exists) are made based on computer simulations they receive from Russian vendors, because no such simulation model is currently available in the Ukraine. The closest available on spot measures are related to areas located several kilometers away from the epicentre.

Removal operation

In the same press release the Mayor of Kiev also announced that no transport of whatever dangerous material will be allowed in the town area. The removal by railway of the phosphor containers involved in the accident was originally planned for today. It’s unclear how Kiev’s transit refusal may affect the operation and whether the mayor has the authority to block national traffic on the railways.

According to the Press Manager of the Ministery for Emergency Situations, Mr. Igor Krol', four containers will be lifted and put back on the rails today. Five containers have already been lifted. Yet the weather may affect the operations, as violent storms and very strong winds are expected in the area. This is going to introduce a serious risk factor for the phosphor that still remains on the ground. The contaminating products are in fact insulated from the air by means of pillows made of air and foam; a strong wind may cause new emergencies by even just partially removing such insulation structures.

Health consequences

Various TV channels report one of the firemen who first arrived on location to be in very critical conditions. The channels give no exact figure about the number of people seeking help in hospitals, the media simply report the flux to be uninterrupted. A medical doctor in a TV interview for Novij Kanal said people are mostly in panic, but not really ill. At late evening a press release from the Ministery for Emergency Situations gives the following figures: 184 people, among them 52 children, 14 people belonging in the emergency squads who managed the accident, 3 medical operators that went to assist people in the polluted area.

Polemics are mounting about the way in which the emergency has been managed. The president of the Ozhidov village Council (the worst hit village) declared in a TV interview for Novij Kanal that they were immediately forbidden to drink water, but never were given any medicine or fresh water, neither were they told what they could use for first aid.

President says "no cloud"

President Viktor Yushchenko issued a couple of official communications about the "absence of any need to declare the accident area as ecologically damaged" and added that he has the intention to invite Polish experts on location, to have an independent verification. He invited the population of the affected area "not to frighten foreign investors". The passage of the president to the "no cloud" front may prelude to a less contradictory official information.

Yushchenko issued an official call to speed up the closure of the Chernobyl atomic power plants on July, 20. Immediately after he left the country with his family for an unofficial visit to Poland, that will be followed by an official visit to Germany. He is expected to travel to Germany on the evening of July 21.

The Ukraine Procuror General, Mr. Aleksandr Medvedenko, declares to the press that he has visited the accident site together with the President, and that all necessary measures are being taken, both for the liquidation of the accident and the defense of the civilian population. He notes that "it takes courage to work there, for the personnel af the Ministry for Emergency Situations". He announces that a complex cycle of medical care is being planned for about 1500 children of the affected area.

In the same interview the Procuror General announces that the Government of Kazakhstan will accept being returned the phosphor left (the goods were originally from Kazakhstan). Yet in the same hours the director of Kazphosphat (the vendor) declares in an interview to the newspaper Segodnja that he gathers that "the phosphor will be stocked in the Ukraine, because it makes no sense to transfer it back. Moreover, you can hardly imagine that Russia would accept the passage of such a dangerous damaged load on their railways".

WikiNews July 21, 2007

[Unbreakable]

- quotation from one of my favourite British WW2 TV-shows (sorry – forgot the title )

- dangers of small railroad incident are very exaggerated -

- This week I swimmed in couple of lakes around Lviv, sunbathed, strolled a lot across the city, even drenched to the skin under pouring rain – and still feel great - and look great too ...
...Well – to be honest and modest – I look exactly the same as week before… - But my girlfriend (future top-model ) was with me – and she looks really adorable …

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I am glad to see your spirit up, I hope it is not because you consumed a lot of spirits (liquor)?