Nare Stepanyan, Karine Simonyan, www.azatutyun.am
The yard of the community school and the adjacent garden haven't been cleaned even in 10 days after the accident leak of tails out of the tailing pipe of Akhtala Ore Processing Combine.
There was the stink in the area even today, while the trees and ground were covered with grey mass. Akhtala resident Oleg Dulgaryan, Director of 'Community Union and Support Center' NGO, is sure the industrial waste leaked all over the school area is rich in heavy metals and its damage is irreversible.
Combine's Environmental Department Head Gagik Shahnazaryan, who was on the scene, told the Azatutyun that there was a small hole having opened in the tailing pipe, which resulted in the leak of the liquid waste under high pressures. The accident occurred at night: the combine operation was suspended for 3 hours, the accident was eliminated and the operation was resumed without cleaning the area. Unlike the residents worried about this accident, the combine official said there is nothing dangerous and they are waiting for rains.
'We don't need anything to eliminate it, we just need one rain shower,' Shahnazaryan said and added, however, they are taking measures, ''
'Currently we are taking measures, i.e. we are cleaning with water machines.' The combine official assured us the waste doesn't contain any heavy metals. Later the Azatutyun learnt that the combines drove a water machine into the area after the interview to clean it from industrial wastes.
December 22, 2017 at 16:40