The chemical waste transported by the ship Probo Koala from Amsterdam to the Ivory Coast was deadly in high concentrations, according to UN experts.

But they added that post mortems would be required to find out what killed the eight people who died when the waste was dumped in Abdijan. The experts said Probo Koala had been carrying petrochemical waste which indicates it may have been used as a crude sulphur extraction plant, as hinted by the Dutch public prosecution department. The UN team based their findings on samples taken in Amsterdam.