“There are times of the day when breathing normally is impossible,” said Zvezdan Veljkovic, from the village of Radinac, where the mill is based.
Radinac has become known as “red village”, because everything is permanently coated in a layer of red dust. Locals say cancer cases have rocketed and that the dust contains high levels of arsenic, chromium and lead.
Dragana Milic told AFP her grandchildren don’t like coming to visit her anymore. “They won’t play outside,” she said.
HBIS — one of the world’s largest steel producers — bought the mill in 2016 in a high-profile deal marked by a visit from Chinese President Xi Jinping, on his last official trip to Serbia.
Xi is to arrive in Serbia on Tuesday on another official visit, one of only three countries he is flying into on his first European trip since the Covid pandemic.
China has invested billions in Serbia and neighbouring Balkan countries in recent years, with Beijing and Belgrade signing a free trade agreement last year.
But locals around Smederevo blame Chinese investment for the increased pollution.
In the three villages near the mill, residents say that they have experienced throat irritation, unpleasant smells and continual soot coating their houses, clothes and bodies.
Milic said the only thing villagers can do to protect themselves is to stay indoors.
The Serbian Environmental Protection Agency has ranked Smederevo repeatedly among the country’s most polluted cities, classified as having “excessively polluted air”.
Nikola Krstic, an activist at NGO Tvrdjava (“Fortress”), said pollution has soared since the Chinese takeover.
“We don’t know the reason why… whether it’s high production, technology failure, lack of maintenance or non-compliance,” he said.
Tvrdjava carried out an analysis of the dust produced by the factory in 2021, together with the scientific group National Environmental Association.
The analysis, seen by AFP, found high concentrations of heavy metals including arsenic, chromium and lead, which the report warned are among “the most toxic and carcinogenic metals when present in ambient air”.
“(HBIS) have saved this steel mill in economic terms, but in environmental terms they have caused great damage to this city,” said Krstic.
Data from the state-run Smederevo Health Centre found a four-fold increase in cancer cases between 2011 and 2019, which activists believe is due to increased pollution.
The group filed a criminal complaint against the company in Smederevo, but it was rejected on the basis of lack of evidence.
They now plan to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights.
The steel mill employs about 5,000 people, with thousands more employed indirectly.
