The canal may or may not be related. But several nations now do use the concept of unrestricted Warfare, which when you think about it, it would be surprising if at any point in history someone did restrict warfare on both sides of a conflict. In any case, these two events need to be watched, assuming we can ever know what actually happened. As we said, “Unrestricted Warfare”.
Major incident: source of cyanide in Walsall canal identified and spill stopped
The source of the Sodium Cyanide leak into a stretch of canal in Pleck in Walsall has been identified, Walsall Council has confirmed.
In their latest statement the council says the spillage has been stopped, and now an investigation is underway into its cause.
They have not revealed details of where it came from.
The chemical spill happened on Monday 12 August and was upgraded to a major incident the following day with the council warning of potential serious health risks to anyone who has had direct physical contact with the water.
The UK Health Security Agency describes sodium cyanide as “white crystal like solids with a faint almond colour” that is used in industry for metal cleaning, plating, extraction and photography.
Exposure to the chemical can cause headaches, nausea, dizziness, confusion, changes in heart rate and loss of consciousness, according to the agency.
Ingesting cyanide salts, which can dissolve in water, releases cyanide into the body, the agency’s website states.
Walsall Council is asking the public to avoid an extended area of the canal and towpaths from the Walsall lock flight to the lock flights at Rushall, Ryders Green and Perry Barr as a precautionary measure
One may get the feeling that the dangers of Sodium Cyanide is understated in this description.
If anyone finds any credible information on either of these events, please do put it in the comments.
The reason that cyanide compounds are so dangerous is that the cyanide radical CN binds very strongly to ferric ions in the hemoglobin just like carbon monoxide, impairing cellular respiration which in turn impairs sugar conversion for energy. In short, the patient dies of the equivalent of asphyxiation.
Thank you. You saved me the web search.
Now, who did it?
Adding: this is not unexpected. It’s not the first time the water supply has been a target, although unsuccessful. It’s the easiest way to impair your target.