ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Toxic fuel waste and garbage illegally dumped in ditches near eastern Erbil forced residents from their homes on Thursday night, as foul odours made breathing difficult, according to locals. City officials pledged to fill in the ditches.
“We don’t know if the smell is from gas or black oil. Masks are useless and we’re leaving our homes now,” a resident of Ashti neighborhood said in a video circulating on social media.
The foul odour spread through several neighborhoods of Erbil, particularly in the Ayanda and Ashti districts. Loudspeakers at a mosque in the Ayanda neighbourhood urged people to wear masks to protect their health as the odour intensified.
The smell came from ditches used for dumping garbage.
“Behind the Kasnazan subdistrict, several pits are being used for dumping garbage and waste, and sometimes garbage is set on fire. This has spread an unpleasant smell,” Lieutenant Colonel Shakhawan Saeed, spokesperson for Erbil’s Civil Defense Directorate, told Rudaw.