Appearing tired and stressed, Piotr Wloch looks out dejectedly at his empty tourist boats on the Oder river after an environmental disaster that has killed thousands of fish.
August 27, 2022
Appearing tired and stressed, Piotr Wloch looks out dejectedly at his empty tourist boats on the Oder river after an environmental disaster that has killed thousands of fish.
Like many local businesses, Wloch has seen bookings plunge by 90 percent following the as yet unexplained catastrophe on the lush banks of a river between Poland and Germany.
« I’m just starting to realize the scale of what happened, » Wloch told AFP.
« Yesterday, I slept all day because I was depressed, unable to move, » he said.
In the empty tourist marina of Cigacice in Poland, firefighters in a rubber dinghy are still removing dead fish while environmental agency workers take water samples for tests.
The stench of dead fish fills the air.
Between 200 and 300 kilograms (440-660 pounds) of dead fish have been removed in Cigacice in the past few days—out of around 300 metric tons in total from the Oder since the start of August, officials said.
« Everyone is afraid. Only some curious people pop in to have a look, but life has stopped, » said Lukasz Duch, director of a local sports center.
« Before the pollution, on a good weekend, Cigacice would draw between 5,000 and 10,000 tourists.
« This place was full of life… Now businesses are making nothing in high season, » he said.
‘Afraid of the river’
While the first signs of pollution appeared at the end of July, the area around Cigacice was only affected on August 8.
