Cases / Cyanide spill · Tunisia and Kyrgyzstan · 1998–2025
Gabès students reported poisoned near chemical plant; Barskoon cyanide spill
Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.
Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Students in Gabès, Tunisia, were reported repeatedly poisoned near a state chemical plant. In Kyrgyzstan, the public at Barskoon was not told of a 1998 cyanide spill for five hours. At stake for nature are the rivers and air around both sites.
What?
Gabès students were reported poisoned near a state chemical plant, and a 1998 cyanide spill at Barskoon was not made public for five hours.
Where?
Gabès, Tunisia; Barskoon, Kyrgyzstan
When?
December 2025 (Gabès report); 1998 (Barskoon spill); April 2022 (court ruling report)
Who?
Gained
None on recordLost
None on recordHarmed
- Students in Gabès — Reported poisoned near the state chemical plant Business News TN
- 54 victims of the Barskoon spill — Their lawsuit was rejected after 24 years Economist.kg
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
Reported exposure near a state chemical plant in Gabès. At Barskoon, a cyanide spill was not made public for five hours.
6 of 6 questions answered from the record
What happened
The record, in order.
Business News TN reported in December 2025 that students in Gabès, Tunisia, were repeatedly poisoned near a state chemical plant.
RFE/RL reported that the public was not informed of a 1998 cyanide spill at Barskoon, Kyrgyzstan, for five hours.
Economist.kg reported in April 2022 that a court rejected the lawsuit of 54 victims after 24 years.
In court and with insurers
Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.
Lawsuits and rulings
No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.
Insurers
No insurer decision on record.
What we don't know
Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
Record
- None on record The sources reviewed do not say which substances were emitted at the Gabès plant or who operates it.
- None on record The sources reviewed do not say how much compensation Barskoon residents received, or which court rejected the lawsuit.
Did the harm stop?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Who paid?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Sources
Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers
Press and investigations
- Students poisoned in GabèsBusiness News TN · 2025-12
- Court does not grant compensation claims over cyanide in the Barskoon riverEconomist.kg · 2022-04