"There were two deaths, a four-year-old girl and another aged nine years," said an official at Abidjan's teaching university hospital of Cocody, where more than 340 people have been treated since Thursday.

The hospital official said the girls complained of respiratory problems before they died.

Those taken ill so far have complained of stomach problems, nosebleeds and respiratory illnesses.

Several daily papers reported that a highly toxic mixture originating from a ship chartered by a Dutch-registered company was dumped at three garbage tips in Abidjan in August.

The west African nation's government did not confirm until Monday evening that toxic waste had been dumped and said measures were being taken to look after those taken ill.

"The government is continuing to search so that we can identify all the sites where waste has been spilled," Health Minister Remy Allah Kouadio said on state television.

Prime Minister Charles Konan Barry conceded on Tuesday that the situation was worse than at first thought. A government source said that an extraordinary cabinet meeting was planned on Wednesday.

"The situation is more serious than we had thought," Banny said in the capital Yamoussoukro.

"I am not saying that in order to panic the population -- we are not at that stage yet -- but the information that we have... indicates that the situation should be taken seriously," he said.

Families of those affected took to the streets on Monday in angry protests against the government's slow response.

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