VIDEO. Major fire at a giant landfill in India: potentially toxic fumes suffocate residents of New Delhi

L’incendie continue sur la décharge de Ghazipur à Delhi, des efforts sont menés pour éteindre l’incendie. Capture d'écran Twitter – @ndtv

A major fire broke out on Sunday April 21, 2024 at the Ghazipur landfill, located a few hundred meters from the city center of the Indian capital New Delhi.

A fire broke out on Sunday April 21, 2024 in the Ghazipur landfill, in the suburbs of New Delhi. The dry and hot weather which affected India last weekend is believed to be the cause of the outbreak of fire in this pile of all kinds of rubbish.

The formation of smoking gases

"Landfills produce gas that causes fires. Any type of wet metal or wet waste that has been compressed for too long has the potential to generate heat, which in turn results in the formation of smoking gases that cause fires", explains a firefighter.

#InPics | Thick plumes of smoke still rose skywards from the #Ghazipur landfill on Monday, hours after a major fire broke out there.

📸: AFP pic.twitter.com/pnRy27O9ql

— NDTV (@ndtv) April 22, 2024

Opened in 1894 and as large as forty football stadiums, this landfill receives 2,000 tonnes of waste every day and exceeds the height of the Taj Mahal. In 2022, a major fire had already broken out there. And in 2018, two people died after part of the “waste mountain” collapsed. This landfill was initially scheduled to be closed in 2002.

#Video | Fire breaks out at Delhi's Ghazipur landfill site pic.twitter.com/GhnrYSbSia

— NDTV (@ndtv) April 21, 2024

Toxic fumes

Monday around 5 p.m., the fire was almost completely contained, the authorities announced. But this Tuesday morning, smoke continues to escape and spread in the sky, according to Business Standard, a local media.

Residents complain in particular of respiratory problems due to the toxic fumes emanating from this landfill which is considered one of the largest in the world, several tens of meters high.< em>"Our eyes are burning and none of us can leave our homes. The situation is so serious that the children end up crying", explains a resident with concern.

#UPDATE: Efforts underway to douse the fire at #Ghazipur landfill site in Delhi.

(Visuals shot at 5:51 am) | reported by news agency ANI pic.twitter.com/kfZIGu0OLj

— NDTV (@ndtv) April 22, 2024

"Inhaling smoke from landfill fires may cause immediate irritation of the respiratory tract, leading to symptoms such as coughing, shortness of breath wheezing and breathing difficulties" warns a pulmonologist to The Independent.

A petition has been posted online to call on Indian authorities to better manage the waste of the second most populous country in the world. Indian cities generate 62 million tonnes of waste every year, and The Independent estimates that this figure could jump to 165  nbsp;million by 2030.