A policeman, mask-clad due to COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, watches as people cool off in the water at el-Kettani beach in the Bab el-Oued suburb of Algeria’s capital Algiers
ALGIERS, July 7 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) — At least 150 people were hospitalized after swimming in seawater suspected to have been polluted at Tenes in northwestern Algeria, a regional official said.
Three beaches and a desalination plant have been closed and an investigation launched in Chlef, a locality that includes Tenes, local government official Lakhdar Seddas said.
He told the privately-owned Echourouk TV channel that “149 people suffered nausea, fever, and redness of the eyes after swimming on Sunday and were taken to hospital”.
Seddas said that around 50 people had since left the hospital and that polluted seawaters may have made them ill. Suspicions centered on a ship carrying livestock that had arrived recently at Tenes port, he added.
The website Ennahar Online named the ship as the Tanzanian-flagged Barhom II, and said it had arrived from the southern French port of Sete.
Twenty-eight divers and seven civil defense workers who were sent to investigate were also reported to have become unwell.
An official statement said an environment ministry team had taken air and water samples from the port at Tenes, beaches, and other locations. — NNN-AFRICANEWS
