Quake could spark toxic disaster in Limassol

By Martin Hellicar

TONNES of toxic insulation liquid buried under Limassol ten years ago are a disaster waiting to happen, the House Environment Committee heard yesterday.

Dr Marios Matsakis, Limassol deputy for Diko, decided it was high time the committee looked again at the issue of tonnes of the carcinogenic polychlorinated dimethyl that were dumped in the area of the Limassol industrial estate a decade ago.

“Its presence in the ground under Limassol constitutes a deadly and permanent danger,” Matsakis told the committee.

Limassol residents’ groups have been demanding that measures be taken to protect the public from the possibility of leaks from the dump.

Matsakis said the decision to allow the import of the banned carcinogenic substance into the country in the first place constituted “criminal negligence”.

It was imported in 1986 as insulation material inside a large shipment of transformers imported from France via Saudi Arabia by a private businessman.

Officials who objected to the import at the time were persuaded to drop their reservations, the committee heard.

Labour Ministry official Solonas Kasimis told deputies he had been one of the officers “hounded” into turning a blind eye to the transformers being imported. “I happened at the time to see the import licences… I asked, through the police, that the import licences be revoked,” he said.

But, Kasimis said, the businessman importing the transformers petitioned the Labour Ministry and got his way. “He had an opinion from the then head of the State Lab that the disposal method was safe,” Kasimis said.

The material was disposed of in a deep pit in the Limassol industrial estate area. Officials said rocks underlying the area were impervious and would not allow the toxic liquid to seep out. The pit was lined with bentonite and 150 tonnes of polychlorinated dimethyl were dumped in it. Another layer of bentonite was added and then two metres of soil was placed on top. The site was landscaped to prevent erosion and boreholes were sunk on the perimeter to allow regular checks for contamination of groundwater.

But these precautions do not convince the committee.

The Limassol Technical Chamber insists that an earthquake could release the toxic liquid into groundwater and lead to widespread poisoning.

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