The European Union environment commissioner inspected a chemical tanker linked to a deadly discharge in Ivory Coast on Thursday and said it was important to "to punish all responsible" for the crime. Stavros Dimas vowed to strengthen enforcement of laws banning the shipment of toxic waste after the incident in Ivory Coast, which authorities in the African country say has left eight people dead and thousands seeking medical help. "It is shocking that toxic waste from Europe reached the Ivory Coast causing so much human suffering and damage to the environment," Dimas said. "We have European waste shipment regulations which ban such export but apparently the law was broken." Dimas spoke to The Associated Press after inspecting the Probo Koala, a tanker that shipped the waste to Ivory Coast. It was impounded Wednesday in the Estonian port of Paldiski.

The company that chartered the ship said its cargo consisted of material with little toxicity. "The facts speak for themselves," Dimas said. "You do not need much to see that there have been clear violations of international law." Earlier Thursday, Dimas said he will "seek ways and means to reinforce the existing waste shipment regulation" in the 25-member EU. "I also plan to put forward a proposal to criminalize certain environmentally damaging practices," he said.

Estonia's state prosecutor's office opened a criminal investigation on Wednesday, saying the Probo Koala's crew was suspected of trying to dump residue washings, or slops, into Estonia's Baltic port of Paldiski without permission from local authorities. Tests results of slop samples taken from the ship showed traces of "environmentally dangerous, poisonous chemicals" believed to be the same as those found in Ivory Coast, the prosecutor's office said.

Dimas said the EU Commission has no judical means to launch its own investigation but offered to assist member states probing the case. Three investigations are underway in the Netherlands, where the company that chartered the ship, Trafigura Beheer BV, is based. Dimas praised the Estonian government for holding the vessel and the Greenpeace activists who drew attention to case by blocking the tanker from leaving Paldiski. "I thank Greenpeace. This is how the civil society should work," Dimas said.

The foul-smelling waste was shipped to Abidjan on the Probo Koala and later dumped throughout the city, authorities say. Trafigura said it transferred the waste to a local contractor, a company called Tommy, which it believed was authorized to dispose of the material. The firm has maintained that the vessel's cargo consisted only of gasoline residue and caustic soda used to clean the tanks, material with little or no toxicity.