Toxic gas sends scores to hospital near Mosul
Up to 1,000 people have been treated for breathing problems linked to fumes from a sulphur plant set ablaze during fighting with Islamic State in northern Iraq and US officials say US forces at a nearby airfield are wearing protective masks.
A cloud of white smoke blanketed the area around the Mishraq sulphur plant, near Mosul, mingling with black fumes from oil wells that the militants torched to cover their moves.
Local residents and the US military said Islamic State militants deliberately set the sulphur plant ablaze as they strive to repel an offensive by Iraqi government forces to drive them from Mosul, their last major stronghold in the country.
Up to 1,000 people have been admitted to the nearby Qayyara central hospital with respiratory problems since Friday morning and later released, according to hospital director Abdul Salam Jabbouri. No deaths have been reported at the hospital. However, AFP reported two deaths.
The Qayyara West airfield is the main US hub to support Iraqi-led operations to retake Mosul. There are about 5,000 US troops in Iraq but the U.S. military has not disclosed the number of personnel at the airfield.
US officials said Islamic State set the sulphur plant ablaze on Thursday during fighting around al-Mishraq, south of Mosul. Iraqi state TV said the fire had been "brought under control" yesterday , but the Reuters reporter on the scene said smoke was still visible from a distance late in the day.
Operation Inherent Resolve, the official name of the US-led anti-Islamic State coalition, said in a statement on Saturday it had provided more than 24,000 protective chemical masks to the Iraqi security forces and the allied Kurdish Peshmerga fighters during training for the Mosul offensive.
Separately, the coalition said Qayyara airfield started receiving cargo aircraft on Friday, after US Air Force engineers repaired it.
Comments