Syrian official: 900 cases of poisoning with polluted water west of Damascus

The head of the city council of Maadamiyat al-Sham, west of the Syrian capital, Damascus, Eng. Bassam Saada, announced that the cases of poisoning due to the contamination of drinking water in the city, today, Saturday, exceeded the 900 case.

Engineer Saada said in statements to the German News Agency (dpa) that "cases of poisoning began to appear since Friday and reached a climax today, Saturday, and exceeded 900 cases, with two cases requiring them to be transferred to hospital, due to the leakage of sulfur water into one of the wells. The town feeds in the Rabwah region northwest of the capital, Damascus, and the Water Corporation is working to solve the problem and return water pumping to the town.

He added, "There are still cases that the hospital and health center refer to, but they are few in number to obtain the medicine provided by the Ministry of Health."

Engineer Saada denied what was rumored about sewage waste leaking into the water network, and said: "Drinking water has been analyzed in the city and the presence of a normal amount of chlorine has been proven, which denies the existence of any waste leakage."

A number of residents of the town of Moadamiya, 4 km west of the capital, Damascus, said that "cases of poisoning, severe diarrhea and stomach pain began to appear since Friday noon in most of the neighborhoods of the town whose population exceeds 70 thousand people."

In statements to the German News Agency (dpa), residents added: "Three days ago, the people noticed an unusually high level of chlorine and its smell in the water, and that some areas in the town did not reach them, and their residents did not suffer from anything."

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