High levels of cancer-causing gases, apparently released by an oil refinery, on Wednesday triggered a public alarm system in an industrial city near Belgrade.
Sirens sounded in the morning and overnight in Pancevo, 10 kilometers (6 miles) east of the Serbian capital, prompting thousands of residents to remain indoors as air levels of benzene and chlorine soared to 10 times normal levels, officials said.
Serbia’s environment minister, Miroslav Nikcevic, accused HIP Petrohemija – Serbia’s largest petrochemical plant with annual production of 800,000 tons of gasoline a year – of releasing the harmful substances into the air. “They were siphoning the benzene in an open area, and the wind was blowing toward downtown Pancevo,” Nikcevic said.
“The problem is that the plant’s management informed no one about the operation.” Yesterday’s toxin levels were recorded at 118 micrograms per cubic meter of air, or about 10 times “normal levels” in Pancevo, Nikcevic said.
(The Associated Press, 07/02/2007)