A mystery illness is killing Ethiopian villagers near a Chinese oil project in the country’s east.

There are no details on where the illness came from or what causes it, but locals allege toxic waste coming from the Ogaden basin Chinese oil project is a factor.

Symptoms include swelling and yellowing of infected patients’ skin and eyes.

“It is the toxins that flow in the rainfall from Calub [gas field] that are responsible for this epidemic,” 23-year-old Khadar Abdi Abdullahi, a former resident of a village in the region, has told reporters for the Guardian.

A former engineer who worked in the area said regular chemical spillages from the drilling contained sulphuric acid, which can lead to liver failure.

Authorities in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa have denied any environmental or health crisis in the region.

Director of licensing at the federal ministry of mines and petroleum, Ketsela Tadesse, said: “All the gas wells at Calub and elsewhere in the Ogaden Basin, are sealed, safe and secured … according to international standards”.

However, a Somali government adviser speaking on the basis of anonymity told reporters: “There are new diseases that have never been seen before in this area”.

“Without any public health protection, it is very clear that Poly-GCL uses chemicals that are detrimental to human health.

Poly-GCL is a partly state-owned Chinese company that has been prospecting oil and gas in Ogaden since 2014.

The company has reportedly not responded to requests for comment.