IVORY COAST: OIL TRADER TO PAY OUT IN TOXIC WASTE CASE
Sep 18th, 2009 by admin
Dutch oil trader Trafigura is set to pay out millions of dollars to 31,000 Africans affected by toxic waste dumped in Ivory Coast in 2006. At least 15 people died, 69 were hospitalized and more than 100,000 others fell ill after 500 tonnes of toxic waste from a cargo ship were dumped in landfills around the city of Abidjan, according to a United Nations report released this week. The case is one of the largest group actions in legal history. It regained attention this week after British media published confidential documents showing that Trafigura was aware of the hazardous nature of the waste. The company has not released a figure for the settlement yet but claimants were reportedly seeking compensation of approximately 165 million US dollars.
