Diesel fuel 'kills thousands each year'

Ships belching toxic fumes from diesel fuel contribute to the deaths of tens of thousands of people in Europe, Asia and the United States each year, claims a US report released this week.

As many as 60,000 people living in coastal communities along major shipping routes died from lung and heart complaints as a result of high sulfate emissions from ships in 2002, according to the study released on Wednesday by the American Chemical Society (ACS).

With international maritime trade on the rise and little regulation of ship emissions, that death toll could rise to as many as 82,000 by 2012, says the report to be published next month in ACS journal, Environmental Science & Technology.