Personal injury solicitor news

Toxic waste dumping ends in compensation claim

A team of British personal injury solicitors have flown out to the Ivory Coast to prepare a mass compensation claim on behalf of thousands of people who were allegedly affected by the dumping of huge amounts of toxic waste.

The personal injury solicitors, who specialise in no win no fee cases here in the UK, are in the African city of Abidjan to meet those who say they were injured when the waste was supposedly dumped on behalf of a Netherlands commodities trader in August 2006.

The waste was onboard the Probo Koala, a ship chartered by Dutch firm Trafigura, before being transferred to trucks owned by a local company named Tommy who were contracted to dispose of it.

It is alleged that Tommy then proceeded to ditch the waste at 17 different sites around the city, many of them close to residential areas.

The toxic waste is said to have contained a mixture of caustic sodas, water, gasoline residues and hydrogen sulphide and is thought to have led to the deaths of 10 people while over 100,000 were forced to consult medical experts.

The personal injury solicitors pursuing the compensation claim on behalf of the Abidjan residents are blaming Trafigura for the dumping of the toxic waste and allege that the Dutch company knew that Tommy did not have the resources to properly dispose of it.

Trafigura deny responsibility for the incident and are planning to fight the compensation claim brought by the UK personal injury solicitors.

For more information about the Ivory Coast, go to http://www.africaguide.com.