11/04/2024
Construction workers at Dilovası's newest road project are unaware they’ve been digging up a potential deathtrap. The ground beneath their feet, which they’ve been excavating for weeks, contains tonnes of illegally discarded hazardous insulation and asbestos-laden debris that forms a 12,000 sqm piece of land that the locals call ‘Izocam Hill.’
After The Black Sea exposed the existence of the hill back in 2019, locals tried to force the municipality to clean up the area.
Instead, they did the unthinkable: they started to dig it up. Now workers, their families, and the entire community risk deadly asbestos exposure, experts say.
The 12,000 sqm Izocam Hill, named after French and Kuwaiti-owned insulation manufacturer, has been a public health timebomb for decades. The construction may light the fuse.
