A slew of toxic red sludge that’s already left four people dead in western Hungary has now reached a branch of the River Danube.
Tibor Dobson, the spokesman for Hungary’s disaster agency said the slurry spread into the Mosoni-Danube near the border with Slovakia and Austria early this morning. However it’s thought the alkaline content has been slightly reduced – cutting the chance that it’ll damage more of the environment.
Hungary declared a state of emergency in three counties on Tuesday after the highly caustic sludge swept through several villages. Now – as the torrent gets carried further downstream – there are fears it will pose a serious ecological risk to the Danube itself – Europe’s second largest river. It’s expected to reach there by the weekend.
“This is an unprecedented ecological catastrophe.” Prime Minister Viktor Orban
Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orban visited Kolontar, one of the villages overwhelmed by the sludge, at dawn this morning – and said the entire area was a write off.
“It’s difficult to find the words”, he said. “Had this happened at night, everybody would be dead.”
He said there was no point rebuilding an area which had been so badly damaged by the bauxite waste, and called it an “unprecedented ecological catastrophe”.
Orban hinted that human error could be to blame – saying that problems with the wall around the waste reservoir should have been detected.
A criminal investigation into the spill has now been launched – although MAL Zrt – who own the metals plant and reservoir, have insisted the last inspection – which took place on Monday – had shown nothing wrong.
Hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes as the fast-moving flood – measuring some 700,000 cubic metres – swept away cars, damaged homes and carried the toxic slurry through several nearby towns. At least four people were killed and three are still missing. Many people were injured after suffering chemical burns and eye irritations caused by lead and other corrosive substances in the mud.
“I could hardly breathe.” Resident Etelka Stump
One local resident, Etelka Stump said she’d almost been swept away by the torrent – and only survived by clinging to a piece of wood from a broken pigsty.
“I could hardly breathe because that air, that smell, that froth really hit me”, she told Reuters. “I know what it’s like because I worked in the bauxite factory for 17 years.”
A spokesman for MAL said the firm wanted to resume production at its metals plant – warning that if it ceased operation there, three thousand jobs could be lost. But many people from the affected area say they still don’t feel safe enough to go back home.
Greenpeace described the spill as “one of the top three environmental disasters in Europe in the last 20 or 30 years” – and the European Union has warned the Hungarian authorities to do everything they can to stop the sludge reaching the Danube proper – and prevent the disaster spreading across Hungary’s borders.