Four more kids sick in Berezovka

    Four children have required medical assistance after they fell ill in a Kazakh village where many residents have experienced fainting spells and other symptoms in recent months.
    Berezovka resident Tilek Temirghaliev told RFE/RL that his 11-year-old son and three local girls were taken to a hospital in the district seat, Borili, on March 2 after they lost consciousness, but that doctors refused to hospitalize them.
    He said they were sent home after they felt better.
    Hospital deputy director Darigha Kabdenova denied that four children had fainted. She told RFE/RL that "the situation in Berezovka is good now."
    Dozens of Berezovka's 1,300 residents, mainly teenagers, have fainted for unexplained reasons since November 28.
    Residents and local environmentalists say the fainting spells are caused by a toxic gas from the nearby oil and gas field.
    They have urged the authorities to relocate them.
    In January, Kazakh Deputy Energy Minister Uzaqbai Karabalin said the residents will not be relocated as Berezovka is not close enough to the field to qualify as an "ecological disaster zone, “ RFE/RL reports.