Lost cargo or wreck theory over toxic mist

A SHIPWRECK could be to blame for a toxic yellow mist that forced coastline evacuations across East Sussex last weekend, the coastguard said.

Some 150 people required treatment for stinging eyes, sore throats and vomiting after the noxious haze reached the shore from Eastbourne to Birling Gap, near Beachy Head, on Sunday.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said that it was examining multiple possibilities as it continued to investigate the incident.

It said: “We are considering a number of possibilities, such as discharges from a vessel, previously unreported lost cargo, and emissions from known shipwrecks.

“We have identified about 180 vessels that passed through the English Channel off the coast of Eastbourne on Sunday, Aug 27. We are working with all relevant environmental and public health regulators to conclude these investigations. We have no further information at this stage.”

In the past, chemicals have drifted across the Channel from European industrial units and it was initially speculated that this was the source of the pollution.

But the Met Office said weather models indicated that was unlikely to have been the case.