A thick black plume of smoke coming out of the Zouk power plant on Tuesday. (Photo circulated on social media)
BEIRUT — Images of thick black smoke rising from the Zouk power plant in Kesrouan have been circulating heavily on social media since Tuesday evening.
Residents of the area took to social media to call for help as “cancerous fumes spread in the air.”
Journalist Bassam Abou Zeid tweeted that the factory should be stopped immediately as fumes said to be cancerous spread in the area and towards neighboring regions.
Activist and journalist Salman Andary tweeted that the fumes rising from the power plant is an indication of the corruption [of politicians] in the country in regard to the electricity file, and citizens seem to be paying the price with the spread of cancerous gases.
دواخين معمل الزوق للكهرباء اكبر دليل على فسادهم واجرامهم في ملف الكهرباء. ينشرون السرطان في بلد مقطوع عن العالم بسبب جشعهم ونهبهم لكل مقدرات البلاد. انها النهايات القاتلة في هذا البلد الملعون!!..
— Salman Andary (@salmanonline) September 6, 2022
pic.twitter.com/noqraSNlJX
A study dating back more than ten years had interviewed around 1,000 residents in the Zouk area, and its findings revealed that around 33 percent of interviewees living within three kilometers of the Zouk power plant had recorded instances of lung cancer within the family, while this was the case for 12.8 percent of residents living 15-20 kilometers away.
It is not the first time that thick black some rises from the Zouk power plant. In May, a fire broke out across the plant, and Civil Defense teams managed to control the blaze, stating that a garbage dump right across the plant went up in flames.
State-owned electricity provider Electricité du Liban said in a statement in March that “EDL and the Energy Ministry had fulfilled the entirety of their duties” in response to the report on safety issues in the Zouk power plant that had been presented by Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi to the cabinet that same month.
Debt related to Lebanon’s energy and electricity sector represents more than 40 percent of its sovereign debt, while residents of Lebanon endure less than two hours of electricity from EDL.