Old ferries exported in the Tropics at the end of their lives continue to routinely kill dozens of passengers
Old ferries exported in the Tropics at the end of their lives continue to routinely kill dozens of passengers. Cameroon and the Philippines have just been hit by deadly accidents.
August 25, 2019.
The Cameroon-flagged Austrheim left Calabar (Cross River State, Nigeria) bound for Tiko (South West Province, Cameroon). Depending on the sources, between 132 and 200 passengers and crew members were on board. Caught in strong winds during the night of August 25, the ferry struck a sandbank and capsized off the Bukassi peninsula. 111 people were rescued by the Cameroonian Navy and Nigerian fishermen. 17 bodies have been recovered so far.
The scandal of the special needs education school Jacques Prévert on the rue du Pont de Lodi, Paris 6th district
Notre-Dame de Paris, press release n°8
Schoolchildren receive there an individualised education. They have difficulties with the learning process. Robin des Bois was informed Friday afternoon by a union representative that this specialised secondary high school, managed by City hall, would be closed until further notice because of a significant lead dusts contamination, especially in the playground (9695 µg/m2) and in the horticulture garden (42,913 µg/m2).
Nine interior premises are contaminated above the 70 µg/m2 threshold, particularly the refectory (873 µg/m2). Parents were not informed of this closure. No explanatory notice has been displayed on the closed doors. The 30 pupils as well as the teaching and support personnel are transferred to the Jacques Prévert secondary school on the rue Saint Benoît. This late closure and the lack of information is all the more regrettable given that these children already have learning difficulties and lead exposure can potentially make things worse. Along with teachers and support personnel, they were subjected to lead contamination between the 16th of April and summer holidays.
Notre-Dame de Paris, press release n°7
Notre-Dame de Paris, press release n°7
According to information we just received, the special needs education division (Section d’Enseignement Général et Professionnel Adapté, SEGPA) of the Jacques Prévert secondary school, on the rue du Pont de Lodi (Paris, 6th district), will not reopen due to lead contamination. The 30 pupils and the 11 teachers and educational support staff are transferred to the Jacques Prévert secondary school on the rue Saint-Benoît (6th district), which was decontaminated during the summer. The special needs education division is aimed at pupils with “serious and lasting learning difficulties” that follow an individualised educational background.
All the roads lead to school
Notre-Dame de Paris, press release n°6
28th August 2019 addendum : The information very recently circulated by City hall is not reliable. Only the three schools on the rue Saint-Benoît were subjected to a “treatment protocol” carried out by professionals and monitored by health and safety inspection. In the other schools, City hall mentions “treatment” of “ongoing works”, “intervention”, “cleaning”, “measures to be undertaken”. City hall does not clarify when these operations are going to be executed nor by whom. No decontamination report is available. As a reminder, contamination reports are still available on https://www.paris.fr/pages/incendie-de-notre-dame-l-essentiel-concernant-la-pollution-au-plomb-7028/ (at the bottom of the page).The lead samples and analyses in the polluted schools were carried out between the 13th of May and the 8th of August 2019, following the Notre-Dame fire. Primary schools and public secondary schools (collèges) are managed by City hall, public high schools (lycées) by the Île-de-France region. Private schools are managed by the OGEC (the management organisation for catholic teaching).
Cartography of the nurseries, nursery schools, primary schools, secondary schools and high schools polluted by lead.
