A F T E R T H E W A R
The Bombing at Pancevo
The industrial complex next to the town of Pancevo (population 150,000) is located 15 kilometres northeast of Belgrade.The complex includes a fertiliser processing plant, oil refinery, petrochemical plant and a vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) plant among others. Residential buildings are 150 meters away.
The plants store volumes of ethylene-dichloride (EDC), ethylene, chlorine, chlorine-hydrogen, propylene and vinyl chloride monomers. During NATO attacks on April 18, these fluids were released into the atmosphere, water and soil and now pose a serious threat to human health, local ecological systems and the broader Balkan region. According to Yugoslav estimates, some 70,000 people were endangered locally - poisoned, injured and/or evacuated. Many dead fish were observed 30 kilometres downstream of Pancevo where fishing is now forbidden.
It is estimated that 1,400 tonnes of EDC were released directly into the Danube River. According to BBC News, workers at the complex decided to release tons of carcinogenic EDC into the Danube to avoid an explosion. Some 3,000 tonnes of a 40 percent solution of natrium hydroxide and 1,000 tonnes of a 33 percent solution of hydrogen chloride leaked into the Danube. Tonnes of liquid chlorine were released, as was toxic chlorine gas after bombing.
Mercury was probably released after destruction of the chlorine-alkaline electrolysis plant where some 100 tonnes of mercury were stored. Fifty tonnes of oil emulsion and more than 100 tonnes of liquid ammonia also leaked into the Danube.
Belgrade, with roughly 2 million inhabitants, was faced with a potentially serious health emergency on April 18 after the Pancevo bombing. Had winds blown from the northeast, all the air-borne toxic substances and poisons would have blown into Belgrade. However, winds blew west and this, coupled with rain, helped in reducing air pollution.
Polluted clouds created by the bombing carried the products of combustion of VCMs (phosgene, chlorine, chlorine oxides and nitrogen oxides) as well as ammonia, petroleum and petroleum products. The Pancevo VCM plant was completely destroyed and more than 1,000 tonnes of VCM were released. This plant burned for hours, creating a whitish smoke that moved westwards toward Belgrade. The cloud was carried by low air currents and merged with another cloud formed when a storehouse full of fertiliser was hit.
The Times of London quoted the Yugoslav environment minister as saying the amount of carcinogenic matter in the air over Pancevo was 7,200 times above permitted levels. According to a press release from Belgrade's Institute of Public Health, a VCM concentration of 10,600 times above permitted levels was recorded near Pancevo.
