Instagram influencers continue to flock to a ‘gorgeous blue lake’ to take pictures despite the water being highly toxic.
Monte Neme in Galicia, Spain, is an abandoned tungsten quarry with vivid blue lake sitting on top of it. However, there’s one problem – the vivid colors don’t represent natural beauty but heavy chemical contamination that poses a great danger to human health.
Despite the risks beings made clear by several incidents in which social media users were hospitalized after swimming in the forbidden waters, influencers continue to push their luck for the sake of taking pictures at the toxic site.
“A little bad, yes, but the photo was worth it,” one Instagrammer wrote after suffering an allergic reaction following their visit to the quarry that used to operate during World War II.
“This is a mining landscape, which is devastated and unrestored but Galicia used it to promote tourism in the region as if it were an idyllic landscape,” Environmental Journalist Ramón Varela warned in an interview with Euronews.
“At the weekend, it’s a kind of pilgrimage and it’s a dangerous place because it’s a landscape caused by industrial liquids. On the one hand, it is an area that’s easy to access and, on the other, the slopes are risky, reaching heights up to 30 meters.”
Following a number of similar incidents, the authorities are lobbying for a greater limitation of access to the lake.
Speaking to Cadena Cope, Dr. Manuel Ferreiro of the University Hospital of Coruña ER explained that swimming in the toxic water can result in serious health complications.
“If they take a bath in a timely manner, the most likely consequences are ocular and irritative problems, irritation of the ocular mucous membranes and skin irritations,” Dr. Ferreiro warned.
“If it is a prolonged bathing session and they accidentally drink some water, people can experience digestive disorders, vomiting, and later diarrhea.”
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