KUWAIT (28 Aug 2001) -- An official investigation in Kuwait has been unable to determine the cause of death of 1,000 tonnes of fish washed up on its shores. Environment officials have suggested that a heat wave which has sent temperatures soaring to more than 50C in the shade might be to blame. Water temperatures in the Gulf have reportedly risen as high as 36C. The government responded to the sudden influx of dead fish by imposing a ban on fishing in Kuwaiti waters and setting up a committee to examine the issue. But the committee has admitted its failure to discover the cause of the phenomenon. "A thousand tonnes of dead fish have been found (since mid-August)," the committee headed by health minister Mohamed Ahmed Al-Jarallah said in a statement carried by the official Kuna news agency. Foreign aid The interim head of the emirate's living resources department, Rasheed Al-Rushud, said that foreign experts might be brought in to help with the enquiry. | |
He was quoted as saying that oil minister Adil Al-Subih had assured the health ministry the country's oil firms were not the source of the problem through any chemical discharge in the water. On Monday, a Kuwaiti newspaper report cited other possible causes including dumped toxic waste, radioactive sediment or contaminated material from Iraq or Iran such as depleted uranium. |
