By David Lewis

ABIDJAN, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Up to 30,000 people from Ivory Coast will seek tens of millions of dollars in compensation from Dutch-based oil trader Trafigura for illness they suffered after toxic waste was dumped in 2006, their lawyer said on Monday.

The class action suit will be heard in a London court in October 2009, lawyer Martyn Day of British law firm Leigh Day & Co told Reuters.

Trafigura said it would present independent experts to prove the waste could not have been responsible for their illness.

"Trafigura denies that slop could have caused the alleged widespread illnesses. It will demonstrate this point in the UK courts in due course," a company spokesman said.

In a separate court case that opened in Ivory Coast on Monday, local port and customs officials and executives of a local company went on trial for their alleged role in the 2006 toxic waste scandal that shocked the world's top cocoa grower.

Trafigura, one of the world's biggest commodities traders, has denied any wrongdoing over the waste, which was dumped around the Ivorian economic capital Abidjan after being unloaded from a ship, the Probo Koala, chartered by the company.

The petrochemical waste, described by Trafigura as residues from gasoline mixed with caustic washings, was left on open sites.

Thousands of people fell ill and 16 people died.

SETTLEMENT

Trafigura has already agreed a $198 million out-of-court compensation settlement with the Ivory Coast government which exempts it from legal proceedings in the West African country.

But many Ivorian victims say they have not received enough compensation, and the separate class action suit is going ahead through the British legal system.

"The case is going extremely well. About 22,000 people have registered so far," Day said.

His legal team was going through the process of picking out the lead cases that will be representative of the victims, who he believes will eventually number some 30,000 in all.

"We'd certainly be hoping for a few thousand pounds (in compensation) for each person. It will benefit the individuals and hopefully, in the future, companies won't take Africa so lightly," Day added.

The nine Ivorian accused who appeared in court in Abidjan on Monday included senior port and customs officials and executives of a local company, Tommy, that was contracted by Trafigura to dispose of the waste. They face charges related to the dumping.

At the height of the scandal in 2006, Abidjan hospitals were overwhelmed as thousands sought treatment for vomiting, nausea, diarrhoea and breathing difficulties after exposure to noxious fumes. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/) (Additional reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly, Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Ralph Boulton)

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