"Trafigura is very concerned about the reports regarding the health of the Abidjan population and is actively seeking ways of assisting the authorities in any and every way that it can," the company said in a statement.

"Senior executives from the company are in Abidjan and are working with the authorities there to try to establish what happened after the slops were unloaded," it said in the statement posted on its website.

Trafigura chartered Probo Koala, a ship owned by Greek company Prime Marine Management Inc., which unloaded 581 tonnes of toxic waste at the Abidjan port in August.

It said it had communicated with "the authorities of the nature of the slops (gasoline cargo residue washings)" along with a written request that the material should be safely disposed of according to country laws.

The vessel was initially supposed to have discharged the waste in Amsterdam but contractual hitches forced it to seek another disposal point as it had a schedule to collect gasoline blend stock from Estonia destined for Nigeria.

It stopped in Abidjan to off-load the waste after delivering the gasoline stock to Nigeria.

"Following completion of its voyage to Nigeria the most appropriate place in terms of geography and ability to deal with these slops was Abidjan," it said.

Netherlands authorities said an attempt to unload the waste at its Amsterdam port was called off because of complaints about the noxious smell before the ship left for Estonia.

Seven Ivorians, including heads of three local companies -- Puma Energie, Waibs and Tommy -- have been arrested over the dumping of the highly toxic waste at open-air garbage sites across Abidjan.

Two Netherlands environmental experts Monday travelled to the West African country to join three UN experts and six French waste disposal specialists responding to the crisis.

Switzerland is also planning to send an expert to help deal with the crisis, which triggered angry protests and the mass resignation of Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny's cabinet last week.

Environmental pressure group Greenpeace said the dumped sludge was made up of oil refining waste, rich in organic matter and poisonous elements. These include hydrogen sulphide and organochloride, which cause nausea, rashes, fainting, diarrhoea and headaches.

Paul Bouhoun Bouabre, a member of the ministerial committee appointed to deal with the crisis, said Ivory Coast had "no intention of becoming the world's garbage dump" and would invoke every international convention available to obtain justice in the affair.

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