Algal bloom theory for toxic yellow mist sweeping coastline
Scientists suspect natural causes for ‘eerie cloud’ that rolled in from the Channel and hospitalised 150
AN ALGAL bloom in the English Channel may have caused the noxious haze that drifted ashore and left more than 150 people needing hospital treatment.
Police and scientists were last night still trying to identify the source of the gas cloud that made people vomit and suffer stinging eyes and sore throats when it came ashore on the Sussex coast near Beachy Head for several hours on Sunday, leading emergency services to advise residents to stay inside.
Police considered a possible discharge of gas from northern France, but later said wind patterns showed the cloud came from the Channel, or further along the English coast.
Dr Simon Boxall, of the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, said: “It is weird that the ‘cloud’ rolled in from the west. This is against the very light winds, which should have driven in from the east. This implies a water-borne cause. Conditions yesterday were ideal for the development of a toxic algal bloom – very calm, high light levels, and a period of moderate runoff inputting high levels of nutrients into the sea for the preceding weeks.”
He said US studies had shown cases where toxins from harmful algae suspend in the air then drift ashore. Those caught in the haze described a yellow mist and chlorine-like smell. Chrissie Dann, whose husband Steve is a coastguard at Eastbourne, said: “It came over really quickly. Everyone on the beach was really frightened as all of a sudden, their eyes started stinging, people couldn’t breathe properly and their throats were hurting. It was really, really thick, really eerie.”
One scientist, who declined to be named, said: “It might be a container of chemicals washed off a ship and ruptured. It might not necessarily be chlorine as other chemicals produce a similar smell and reaction when mixed with water.”
East Sussex Fire and Rescue said: “Neither the gas nor its source have been established, but agencies are continuing to investigate and have not ruled out either onshore or offshore locations, although it does appear that it did sweep in from the sea, driven by onshore breezes. However, weather models suggest an onshore source in northern France is very unlikely.”
Henry Prout, of Newhaven RNLI, said: “The gas could have come from a container dropped at sea many, many years ago whose seal has finally broken or it could have come from a vessel doing a chemical clean.” One witness, who was on a boat out at sea, said: “It was a thick yellow mist and it went rolling towards the shore, hit the cliffs at Birling Gap and rolled up over the top of the cliffs. People were panicking.”
Like the tendrils of mist in a Stephen King novel, a miasma seemingly out of nowhere coated the south coast close to Beachy Head on Sunday. More than 100 trippers reported nausea, sore throats or stinging eyes and sought hospital treatment. A noxious chemical haze was blamed, but what was it and where did it come from? The finger of suspicion pointed first across the Channel to France, but the wind patterns on the day appear to have made this unlikely. The gas may have been discharged by a ship at sea, but police and coastguards seem no closer to identifying the culprit who ruined a beautiful late summer afternoon for scores of families. Such events have long fascinated writers. In James Herbert’s The Fog, victims are driven insane. Let’s hope a sore throat is the worst of it.