Dangerous heavy metals used in oil production in South Sudan’s Unity State have leaked into drinking water sources used by 180,000 people with life-threatening health risks, a rights group said last Friday.

Toxicological tests carried out on hair samples from 96 volunteers living around the Thar Jath oil processing plant in Unity State revealed they were “highly intoxicated with pollutants such as lead and barium,” said Klaus Stieglitz, from the German-based Sign of Hope organisation.

“There is a direct link between the contamination of the people and the activities of the petroleum industry working in this area,” he said, adding that the research built on six years of hydrological tests by the group in the region.

Previous tests have shown “direct links” between oil drilling and drinking water contamination.

Photo: An oil spill in South Sudan's Unity State, 2015 (Radio Tamazuj)