The environmental and health situation in the Gabès region is reaching a critical point. A new incident of gas poisoning struck the Chatt Essalem college this Tuesday, November 18, 2025, relaunching the controversy around the industrial emissions of the Tunisian Chemical Group (GCT).
Health emergency at college
Several students from Chatt Essalem middle school were affected by these new toxic fumes. Reported symptoms are severe, including fainting and cases of suffocation. Faced with the emergency, the intoxicated students were quickly transported by ambulance to the Gabès university hospital to receive first aid.
This information was corroborated by the environmental association Stop Pollution as well as by several residents of the region. Everyone points the finger, once again, at gas emissions coming from one of the industrial units operating under the aegis of the GCT, suspected of being the cause of this collective asphyxiation.
Popular anger and suspended schooling
This incident occurs in a context of strong social and environmental tension. For several weeks, the population of Gabès has publicly denounced the suffocating gas fumes which impact all citizens, but which particularly affect children. The Chatt Essalem college has also been confronted with several similar incidents in the past.
The day before the incident, parents of students at Gnayna Primary School in Chatt Essalem had already taken a radical measure announcing the suspension of their children’s schooling.
They are demanding the installation of a permanent health point within the school to be able to immediately administer first aid in the event of an emergency and refuse to send their children back to school until adequate sanitary conditions – free of gases and noxious odors – are guaranteed.
Citizen demands for healthy air
Popular indignation resulted in a series of large-scale demonstrations. The most notable took place during the regional general strike of October 21, 2025, where a massive mobilization demanded healthy air, denounced the serious attacks on public health and unequivocally called for the dismantling of the polluting industrial units responsible for this chronic crisis.
Faced with the scale of the problem, the authorities at the highest level of the State took up the matter. The President of the Republic, Kaïs Saïed, received on Saturday November 8, 2025, at the Palace of Carthage, Ali Ben Hammoud, a petrochemical engineer graduated from the University of Shanghai.
The head of state spoke of the critical environmental situation in Gabès and welcomed the engineer’s “without hesitation” response to the call to actively engage in the search for a solution for the region. Expectations are now high as to the concrete actions that will result from this commitment to put an end to this daily health threat.
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