2 dead, 2 missing in Hungary after flood of toxic waste

BUDAPEST, Hungary
— At least two people were dead and two missing on Monday after
hundreds of tons of red sludge flooded from an aluminum factory and
washed through villages in central Hungary, emergency services reported.

Some 700,000 cubic meters of rust-colored slurry,
containing poisonous heavy metals that can cause burns on contact with
skin, flooded out of the waste storage when the dam of an effluent
reservoir burst.

At least 60 people required hospital treatment for
burns after coming into contact with the toxic fluid, and two of them
remained in critical condition, the Hungarian National Disaster Directorate reported.

Others escaped injury by climbing onto walls and rooftops to escape the mud slick that was over two meters deep in places.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban sent Interior Minister Sandor Pinter to personally oversee the disaster management work, and the Hungarian parliament observed a minute’s silence for the victims.

Hundreds of emergency service workers, scientists
and military personnel were working into the night to try to contain
the toxic waste and assess the damage.

Fifty homes in the village of Kolontar, just 500
meters from the huge reservoir, were rendered uninhabitable when the
foul mud washed through the village in the early afternoon, local mayor Karoly Tily told reporters.

Kolontar was the worst hit settlement, but the
slurry oozed downstream wreaking havoc in another six villages around
the well-known Somlo wine-making region.

In late afternoon 40 people had to be evacuated as
the slurry poured into the village of Somlovasarhely, about 10
kilometers — or 6 miles — from the reservoir, the local mayor told
reporters.

Officials have begun an immediate investigation into
the firm that ran the aluminium plant, MAL Magyar Aluminium, in a bid
to establish the causes of the disaster, the interior minister said.

“Documents have been seized which could prove
whether the slurry reservoir damn was professionally built and used.
All documents are available to establish responsibility, if any is
responsible,” Pinter was quoted as saying by the state news agency MTI.

Police said they were treating the death of one Kolontar man as the victim of suspected criminal negligence.

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(c) 2010, Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (Hamburg, Germany).

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