Acidic rain to reach Turkey after ISIS set Mishraq Sulfur Plant set ablaze
Dead trees due to acid rains.
(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – Clouds containing Sulphur dioxide that were formed after the ISIS set Mishraq Sulphur Plant ablaze earlier this month, are moving across Iraq and reached southeast of Turkey, World Tribune Newspaper reported on Saturday.
The newspaper said that hundreds of Iraqis in the areas that were affected by the toxic clouds suffered from breathing difficulties and nosebleeds.
“Satellite images released by U.S. space agency NASA found the sulfur dioxide clouds had reached much of central Iraq, including Baghdad, Tikrit, Kirkuk and Mosul as well as parts of Turkey’s southeast,” the newspaper revealed.
Meanwhile, meteorology editor of Turkish broadcaster NTV, Gokhan Abur, said, “Starting from Oct. 27, winds will blow from the southeast bringing the toxic smoke along with rainclouds,” pointing out that, “The rain will increase humidity in the area, so when water merges with Sulphur dioxide and water vapor, it will form the acid known as sulfuric acid.”
“These raindrops will be loaded with acid, and will burn the plants in the region,” Abur added.
Abur also assumed that the toxic clouds loaded with SO2 would remain in the air for seven days, and a large part of the clouds will enter this chemical reaction.
Earlier this month, ISIS members set Mishraq Sulphur plant ablaze before withdrawing from the area, as the latest step to defend the city of Mosul and hinder the advance of security forces, while hundreds of persons in Mosul suffered from suffocation due to emission of poisonous gasses.