Trafigura execs released after Ivory Coast deal

ABIDJAN, Feb 14 (Reuters) Two executives from Dutch-based oil trader Trafigura were released from prison in Ivory Coast today following the settlement of a dispute over the dumping of toxic waste, the company said.

Trafigura's director, Claude Dauphin, and its West African regional director had been held in Abidjan's prison since September on charges relating to the dumping, which killed at least 10 people and poisoned thousands.

The two executives travelled to Ivory Coast after poisonous black sludge was dumped in open-air sites around the economic capital Abidjan last August after being unloaded from a Trafigura-chartered tanker.

They said they were there to help with the investigation into the dumping but were arrested by Ivorian authorities.

''We went to Ivory Coast on a mission to help the people of Abidjan, and to find ourselves arrested in jail as a result has been a terrible ordeal,'' Dauphin said in a statement.

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