British court to hear Ivorian waste class action - Reuters

[Eugene]

British court to hear Ivorian waste class action

Friday February 2, 05:10 PM

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - A British court has agreed to hear one of the country's largest-ever class
action cases involving a complaint against international oil trader Trafigura, accused of dumping
toxic waste in Ivory Coast, lawyers said on Friday.

Ten people died and thousands fell ill with vomiting, diarrhoea, nosebleeds and breathing
difficulties after hundreds of tonnes of chemical slops were unloaded from a tanker chartered
by Trafigura and dumped in mainly open-air sites in Abidjan last August.

Trafigura has denied any wrong-doing and says it entrusted the waste to a state-registered
Ivorian company, Tommy, which was created weeks before the Panamanian-registered ship
docked in Abidjan's port.

Martyn Day of the Leigh Day & Co law firm representing the victims told Reuters the class action
would enable the complaints of an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 people to be dealt with swiftly in one
single case expected to begin in early 2008.

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Full article: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/02022007/325/british-court-hear-ivorian-waste-class-action.html