Officials in Kyrgyzstan say more than seventy people have been taken to hospital with suspected cyanide poisoning, after nearly two-thousand kilos of the chemical spilled into a river last week.

The Emergency Committee set up to cope with the disaster said several hundred other people had complained of feeling unwell.

The truck carrying the cyanide crashed off a mountain road into the river, which feeds the famous Kyrgyz lake, Issik-Kul.

Local officials have reassured people that the lake is perfectly safe, even swimming in the water in front of a party of journalists.

Sodium cyanide is used extensively in Central Asia as a separating agent in gold mines.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
 

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