Native official says greater than 120 individuals hospitalised within the metropolis amid surge in reported circumstances of respiratory issues.
Revealed On 14 Oct 2025
Dozens of individuals have been hospitalised in Tunisia’s southern metropolis of Gabes, whose residents have blamed air pollution from a close-by chemical manufacturing unit for inflicting respiratory misery and different well being points.
Tunisia’s state-run TAP information company reported that youngsters experiencing respiration difficulties from the fumes had been admitted to Gabes College Hospital on Tuesday.
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A neighborhood official cited by AFP information company mentioned greater than 120 individuals had been hospitalised within the metropolis, whereas an training official cited by the Diwan FM radio channel mentioned dozens of scholars had been admitted to hospital.
On prime of respiratory issues, some sufferers suffered from “leg ache, numbness, and lack of mobility”, mentioned native defence deputy chief Ghofrane Touati.
Resident Tawfik Dhaifallah mentioned his little sister was “suffocating due to the fumes” emanating from the town’s industrial zone. “That occurs each two or three days.”
The newest hospitalisations are a part of spike in reported circumstances of respiratory issues that residents blame on fumes from the Tunisian Chemical Group’s (CGT) phosphate headquarters – a web site authorities pledged to steadily shut in 2017 however have but to observe via on.
Protests
Years of frustration over the location’s emissions erupted on October 11, when residents stormed the complicated demanding its closure.
“Gabes has became a metropolis of demise, individuals are struggling to breathe, many residents undergo from most cancers or bone fragility as a result of extreme air pollution,” Khaireddine Dbaya, one of many protesters, advised the Reuters information company.
The protest turned violent as police fired tear fuel and chased demonstrators via the town streets, Reuters reported. Some protesters tried to set hearth to a department workplace of the CGT’s administration, whereas others blocked roads within the metropolis, in line with native media.
The Gabes native council on Sunday mentioned it supported the “legit” calls for of the protesters and known as for the “dismantling of polluting chemical crops”, whereas additionally criticising “acts of vandalism and violence”.
The Tunisian League of Human Rights additionally backed the protesters and known as for “the dismantling of polluting items and the institution of an alternate regional growth mannequin to sluggish demise and air pollution”.
The protests underscore mounting pressure on President Kais Saied’s government, already grappling with a deep financial and monetary disaster, to steadiness public well being calls for with the manufacturing of phosphate, Tunisia’s most useful pure useful resource.
In an effort to ease public anger, Saied met late on Saturday with the ministers of setting and power, urging them to ship delegations to Gabes to hold out vital repairs on the phosphate acid unit of the complicated. He mentioned he needs “a inexperienced Tunisia freed from all air pollution”.
Phosphate is Tunisia’s principal pure useful resource, however for years, activists have warned concerning the air pollution brought on by the GCT, which dumps its gaseous and stable waste directly into the environment.
In 2017, authorities pledged to dismantle the Gabes complicated and substitute it with a facility that meets worldwide requirements, acknowledging that its emissions posed a hazard to native residents. Nevertheless, the plan has but to be applied.
In the meantime, Tunisia’s authorities goals to revive the phosphate business by rising manufacturing fivefold to 14 million tonnes by 2030 to capitalise on rising world demand.
