'They're waiting till we die of cancer': 10 years on, Mexico's worst mining disaster still poisons lives

In the desert town of Ures, everyone lives under a shadow of ongoing sickness and hardship stemming from a waste spill in 2014. But they are losing hope of seeing justiceJust outside Ures, a desert town in north-west Mexico, a copse of palo verde trees blooms around a concrete compound. It is unpainted, unfinished and overgrown. Inside, plasterboard walls have crumbled to the floor between scattered mounds of horse manure. But outside, clusters of bright yellow flowers hang around the grey walls like a fine mist.A decade ago, the seal blew off a pipe at a copper mine 160km (100 miles) north of Ures, and enough acid waste to fill 16 Olympic pools spilled out. Carried by the Sonora River, the orangey brown pollution spread through a dozen towns, home to more than 25,000 people. At the time, people reported diarrhoea and vomiting, headaches, rashes and peeling skin. Continue reading...