NATO bombing pollution

yugoslavia faces grave ecological damage after more than three months of warfare as an aftermath of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (nato) bombing , an international humanitarian group was quoted as saying. The Beta news agency said a team of Russian, Austrian, Greek and Swiss experts from the Focus Organisation visited Yugoslavia in July and carried out chemical and radiological analysis in towns that had suffered the heaviest damage.

"The bombing of the industrial complex in Pancevo, the oil refinery in Novi Sad, fuel depots in Smederevo and Pristina and the transformer stations in Nis and Bor have led to dangerous ecological consequences" the team said in its preliminary report. "Based on the analysis results, the expert team concluded that the release of extremely toxic and carcinogenic substances poses a major ecological threat in Yugoslavia," it added. The report said mercury had seeped out of a bomb-hit electrolysis plant in Belgrade. However, an un team had earlier claimed there was no evidence that the bombing had caused an ecological catastrophe.