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Algeria: nearly 200 bathers intoxicated after suspected pollution in Ténès - High concentration of chlorine in the seawater of the beach at the origin

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  • Algeria: nearly 200 bathers intoxicated after suspected pollution in Ténès - High concentration of chlorine in the seawater of the beach at the origin

    Translation Google

    Analyzes in progress to determine the origin
    People victims of strange discomfort on the beach of Ténès


    AHMED YECHKOUR JULY 06 2021 10 H 45 MIN 2375

    What really happened on Sunday on the central beach of Ténès, which had hosted the official ceremony for the opening of the summer season 2021 a few moments before? Analyzes and investigations are currently being carried out, we are told, by specialized services and laboratories to determine, with precision, the origin of the strange ailments that affected several people who were in the water and on the median. of this beach, among them civil protection surveillance agents.

    Concurring sources have put forward a number of more than a hundred patients who had eye ailments, nausea, breathing difficulties and high fever for some of them. The first signs were felt on Sunday afternoon, around 5:30 p.m., before the first evacuations of the victims began to the emergencies of the Zighoud Youcef hospital in Ténès.

    Fortunately, according to a health source contacted yesterday by us, all the people hospitalized showed no worrying signs and were able to leave this establishment yesterday morning (Monday) after receiving the necessary care.

    It should be noted that all the medical staff and medical services of the said hospital were mobilized to welcome the affected people, mainly bathers and summer visitors located on the central beach of Ténès, located between the commercial port of this locality and the mouth. of the Allala wadi.

    For the time being, no official information has been provided as to the causes of this strange phenomenon which occurred on a very busy beach. The results of the bacteriological and physico-chemical analyzes of the seawater samples taken by the prevention services of the DSP and the Department of the Environment of the wilaya of Chlef are expected, it is said.

    At the same time, urgent measures were immediately taken by the wilaya authorities, starting with the establishment of a crisis unit to deal with and monitor this situation. It was thus decided the temporary closure of the central beach of Ténès until further notice, as well as the suspension of the distribution of water from the desalination station of Ténès, located 4 km at the west exit of the city and which supplies about thirty municipalities.

    These are, it is said, preventive measures pending the conclusions of analyzes of seawater samples entrusted to specialized national laboratories. Long-awaited conclusions which should provide answers as to the origin of these sudden ailments that collectively affected bathers and people living on the central beach of Ténès.



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    Algeria: nearly 200 bathers intoxicated after suspected pollution

    Paris Match | Posted on 07/06/2021 at 3:12 p.m.
    Editorial staff with AFP

    Nearly 200 people became unwell after bathing in Ténès on Sunday, on the northwest coast of Algeria, and had to receive hospital treatment following possible marine pollution, according to local authorities and medical. Three beaches were closed, as well as a local desalination plant, and an investigation was opened by the attorney general of the court of Chlef, the wilaya (prefecture) on which Ténès depends. The victims suffered from nausea, fever and redness in the eyes, according to Lakhdar Seddas, the wali (prefect) of Chlef. They were all able to leave the hospital.

    "The victims, people who were bathing at the central beach of Ténès, would have inhaled a gas which quickly spread thanks to the wind blowing throughout the afternoon of Sunday", explained the director of the health of the prefecture, Doctor Nasreddine Benkartalia, quoted by the official APS agency. For his part, the prefect did not exclude any hypothesis. "But the most plausible is that relating to the spill of a boat off Ténès," Seddas told a local radio station.

    A cyanobacteria involved?

    According to the private information site Ennahar Online, it is a cargo ship flying the Tanzanian flag, the Barhom II, which had set sail from the port of Sète (south of France). Another hypothesis: a microscopic toxic alga, according to Professor Réda Djebar, from the faculty of biological sciences at the University of Bab Ezzouar in Algiers.

    In a post published on his Facebook page, Mr. Djebar recalls similar cases in Mostaganem (north-west) in 2009 and on several other beaches around the Mediterranean. The culprit, according to him, would be a cyanobacterium called Ostreopsis ovata. This algae proliferates in the Mediterranean when the temperature is high, as is currently the case.

    Teams of divers were dispatched to the site in search of toxic waste. Thirty-six Civil Protection agents, including professional divers, were poisoned, according to a rescue official.

    A delegation from the Ministry of the Environment took "air and water samples at the port (of Tenès), the beaches, the wadi" and the facilities likely to cause pollution, according to an official press release.

    Sur la côte nord-ouest de l'Algérie , à Ténès, près de 200 personnes ont été hospitaliers à la suite d'une possible pollution marine.

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      Translation Google

      Incident on the beach of Ténès: the results of the water analyzes revealed

      Society By: Redaction 07 Jul 2021 at 02:16 PM

      After the suspicions on a boat transporting cattle , the Ministry of the Interior put forward another hypothesis on Tuesday to explain the strange incident which occurred Sunday, July 4 on a beach in Ténès, on the western coast Algerian.

      The poisoning which affected nearly 180 people would be due to too high a concentration of chlorine in the waters of the beach , according to the Department of the Interior.

      " Analyzes have been carried out on samples of sea water have proven the existence of a high concentration of chlorine because of its excessive use by the services of the municipality within the framework of the water treatment of the Boufsoussa wadi " which flows directly into the sea, said a press release from the Ministry of the Interior, published on Tuesday, July 7.

      The Ministry of the Interior does not clearly say that it is the high concentration of chlorine which is at the origin of this poisoning.

      Questions

      The poisoned people left the hospital unharmed after health care, recalls the ministry, while ensuring that preventive measures have been taken to ensure that the waters of the beaches do not present a danger to summer visitors.

      The incident sparked a wave of questions as to the origin of this intoxication.

      Nearly 180 people including lifeguards from the Civil Protection were evacuated to Ténès hospital after bathing on this beach. They complained of lung disease.

      " We carried out physicochemical analyzes which showed that the water was not polluted ", declared Monday, July 5 the wali of Chlef who as a preventive measure, ordered the shutdown of the Ténès desalination station to avoid possible contamination of the population.

      Local analyzes apparently did not detect the high concentration of chlorine in the seawater of this beach.

      If he did not put forward any certainties on the cause of the intoxication, the wali of Chlef however expressed suspicions concerning a cargo ship carrying imported cows, without providing a rational explanation.

      Reda Djebbar, researcher at the USTHB put forward the hypothesis of an intoxication which would be caused by a toxic marine microalgae, drawing a parallel with similar incidents recorded in 2009 in Mostaganem and Corso (Boumerdès), but also in Mediterranean countries.

      Le ministère de l’Intérieur a dévoilé ce mardi 7 juillet les résultats des analyses effectuées sur les eaux de mer de la plage de Ténès où s’est produit l’incident de dimanche dernier.


      ----------------------------------------------------------------------
      Poisoning on the beach of Ténès: A high concentration of chlorine at the origin

      Through REPORTERS -July 8, 202110
      By Hamid Bellagha

      Finally, the mystery of the poisoning of bathers on a beach in Ténès seems to have found an outcome. This is at least what emerges from the press release from the Ministry of the Interior, which justifies the causes of the intoxication and fainting of nearly 200 people who occurred by too high a concentration of chlorine, as part of an operation. treatment plant in Oued Boufsousa, after analyzes carried out on samples of seawater involved in the incident.

      In the press release, we will read, among other things, that "on the basis of the results of biological investigations carried out following the cases of intoxication recorded on a beach in the town of Ténès ... the Ministry of the Interior informs public opinion that the results of analyzes carried out on samples of seawater from this beach have proven its concentration of disinfectant chlorine, due to the intensive use of this substance by the services of the municipality as part of the water treatment of Oued Boufsoussa which spills into the sea, as part of the maintenance of the environment and prevention against water-borne diseases ”, before recalling that all the victims have recovered. As a reminder, last Sunday, 193 summer visitors were victims of discomfort on a beach in Ténès presenting among other symptoms a strong cough, redness of the eyes and breathing difficulties, which necessitated their evacuation to the hospital. The suspicions were initially focused on a ship carrying animals, coming from Sète, France, but the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development reassured that "after checking the animals on board the ship, they are clinically disease-free and show no sign that could be linked to any disease or to a risk of contamination for humans ”.

      The debate, however, does not seem closed, since Reda Djebbar, researcher at the USTHB, affirmed the hypothesis of an intoxication which would be induced by a toxic marine microalgae, giving examples of similar incidents recorded in 2009 at Mostaganem and Corso (Boumerdès), but also in Mediterranean countries. He specified that “the bothersome effects would be caused by a cyanobacterium called Ostreopsis ovata, a microscopic unicellular algae (group of dinoflagellates) usually found in warm tropical waters. Its aquatic way of life is benthic (close to the seabed) and epiphytic (it attaches itself in particular to the algae at the bottom of the water) ”.

      Moreover, in time, Marseille has recorded since yesterday similarities with the incident of Ténès. There are currently no people affected, but the invasive algae of Japanese origin (this time China is innocent) which gives off a nauseating odor as it rots, spreads almost every summer on the seabed of the Calanques. . A phenomenon that occurs during extreme heat and in shallow depths everywhere in the Mediterranean.

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