South Africa has the highest prevalence of mesothelioma in the world. Richard Spoor, a lawyer who represented the claimants against Gencor says: "The environmental scale of the disaster we are seeing unfold in the Northern Cape is on a level with the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, in terms of impact, spread and longevity," he also says that children are particularly vulnerable to mesothelioma. Since September 2016, five of the 1 600 claimants he represents in the Northern Cape have died. Internationally renowned photographer David Goldblatt started photographing victims after a friend died of mesothelioma despite never being in close proximity to a mine. It has been reported that she picked up the disease from rubbing a blue asbestos rock ornament that she kept in her home.