Hungary: Toxic red sludge has reached the Danube
KOLONTAR, Hungary — The toxic red sludge that burst out of a Hungarian factory’s reservoir and inundated three villages reached the mighty Danube on Thursday after wreaking havoc on smaller rivers and creeks, an emergency official said.
The European Union and environmental officials had feared an environmental catastrophe affecting half a dozen nations if the red sludge, a waste product of making aluminum, contaminated the Danube, Europe’s second-longest river.
Officials from several nations downstream – Croatia, Serbia and Romania – were testing the river every few hours Thursday but hoping that the Danube’s huge water volume would blunt the impact of the spill.
An aerial view of excavators working at a broken dyke of a reservoir that contained red mud of an alumina factory near Ajka, 156 kms southwest of Budapest, Hungary, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010. The dyke broke on Monday, and over one million cubic meters of the poisonous chemical sludge inundated three villages, killing a number of people, injuring over a hundred and causing hundreds of families be evacuated.
– MTI, Sandor H. Szabo /AP Photo
An aerial view of a damaged section of a broken dyke of a reservoir that contained red mud of an alumina factory near Ajka, 156 kms southwest of Budapest, Hungary, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010. The dyke broke on Monday, and over one million cubic meters of the poisonous chemical sludge inundated three villages, killing an unknown number of persons and injuring over hundred. Three people are unaccounted for and hundreds of families have been evacuated.
– MTI, Sandor H. Szabo /AP Photo
A villager passes by a dead dog killed in a flood of toxic mud in Kolontar, Hungary, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010. Emergency workers and construction crews on Wednesday swept through the Hungarian towns hardest hit by a flood of toxic sludge, trying to clear roads and homes of acres (hectares) of deep red mud and caustic water. Hundreds of people were evacuated after the disaster Monday, when a gigantic sludge reservoir burst its banks at metals plant in Ajka, a town 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Budapest, the capital. The torrent inundated homes, swept cars off roads and damaged bridges, disgorging an estimated 1 million cubic meters (35.3 million cubic feet) of toxic waste onto several nearby towns.
– Bela Szandelszky /AP Photo
Hungarian fire fighters clean a yard flooded by toxic mud in Devecser, Hungary, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010. Monday’s flooding was caused by the rupture of a red sludge reservoir at an alumina plant in western Hungary and has affected seven towns near the Ajkai, 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Budapest. The flood of toxic mud killed a yet unknown number of people, injured more than one hundred, with some people still missing.
– Bela Szandelszky /AP Photo
Map locates area in Hungary affected by a toxic sludge flood
– P. Santilli /AP
Balazs Holczer walks through his backyard which was flooded by toxic mud in Kolontar, Hungary, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010. Emergency workers and construction crews on Wednesday swept through the Hungarian towns hardest hit by a flood of toxic sludge, trying to clear roads and homes of acres (hectares) of deep red mud and caustic water. Hundreds of people were evacuated after the disaster Monday, when a gigantic sludge reservoir burst its banks at metals plant in Ajka, a town 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Budapest, the capital. The torrent inundated homes, swept cars off roads and damaged bridges, disgorging an estimated 1 million cubic meters (35.3 million cubic feet) of toxic waste onto several nearby towns.
– Bela Szandelszky /AP Photo
Balazs Holczer returns to his house flooded by toxic mud in Kolontar, Hungary, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010. Emergency workers and construction crews on Wednesday swept through the Hungarian towns hardest hit by a flood of toxic sludge, trying to clear roads and homes of acres (hectares) of deep red mud and caustic water. Hundreds of people were evacuated after the disaster Monday, when a gigantic sludge reservoir burst its banks at metals plant in Ajka, a town 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Budapest, the capital. The torrent inundated homes, swept cars off roads and damaged bridges, disgorging an estimated 1 million cubic meters (35.3 million cubic feet) of toxic waste onto several nearby towns.
– Bela Szandelszky /AP Photo
A Hungarian firefighter stands in front of a pile of cars destroyed by flooding toxic mud in Devecser, Hungary, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010. Monday’s flooding was caused by the rupture of a red sludge reservoir at an alumina plant in western Hungary and has affected seven towns near the Ajkai, 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Budapest. The flood of toxic mud killed a yet unknown number of people, injured more than one hundred, with some people still missing.
– Bela Szandelszky /AP Photo
An aerial view of workers repairing a section of a railway line washed away by red mud in Devecser, 164 kms southwest of Budapest, Hungary, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010, after a dike of a reservoir containing red mud of a metals factory in nearby Ajka broke on Monday, and over one million cubic meters of the poisonous chemical sludge inundated three villages, killing an unknown number of persons and injuring over hundred.
– MTI, Sandor H. Szabo /AP Photo
Masked Hungarian soldiers walk through streets flooded with toxic mud in Devecser, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010. The toxic red sludge that inundated three Hungarian villages reached Europe’s mighty Danube River on Thursday but no immediate damage was evident, Hungary’s rescue operations agency said. The European Union and environmental officials had feared an environmental catastrophe affecting half a dozen nations if the red sludge, a waste product of making aluminum, contaminated Europe’s second-longest river after bursting out of a factory’s reservoir.
– Darko Bandic /AP Photo
A resident walks through a field flooded by toxic mud in Devecser, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010. The toxic red sludge that inundated three Hungarian villages reached Europe’s mighty Danube River on Thursday but no immediate damage was evident, Hungary’s rescue operations agency said. The European Union and environmental officials had feared an environmental catastrophe affecting half a dozen nations if the red sludge, a waste product of making aluminum, contaminated Europe’s second-longest river after bursting out of a factory’s reservoir.
– Darko Bandic /AP Photo
Hungarian soldiers stand in a yard flooded by toxic mud in Devecser, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010. The toxic red sludge that inundated three Hungarian villages reached Europe’s mighty Danube River on Thursday but no immediate damage was evident, Hungary’s rescue operations agency said. The European Union and environmental officials had feared an environmental catastrophe affecting half a dozen nations if the red sludge, a waste product of making aluminum, contaminated Europe’s second-longest river after bursting out of a factory’s reservoir.
– Darko Bandic /AP Photo
Hungarian soldiers clean a yard flooded by toxic mud in Devecser, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010. The toxic red sludge that inundated three Hungarian villages reached Europe’s mighty Danube River on Thursday but no immediate damage was evident, Hungary’s rescue operations agency said. The European Union and environmental officials had feared an environmental catastrophe affecting half a dozen nations if the red sludge, a waste product of making aluminum, contaminated Europe’s second-longest river after bursting out of a factory’s reservoir.
– Darko Bandic /AP Photo
Hungarian soldiers, wearing protective gear, clean a street flooded by toxic mud in Devecser, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010. The toxic red sludge that inundated three Hungarian villages reached Europe’s mighty Danube River on Thursday but no immediate damage was evident, Hungary’s rescue operations agency said. The European Union and environmental officials had feared an environmental catastrophe affecting half a dozen nations if the red sludge, a waste product of making aluminum, contaminated Europe’s second-longest river after bursting out of a factory’s reservoir.
– Bela Szandelszky /AP Photo
Antal Barath, left, looks on as Hungarian soldiers clean his yard flooded by toxic mud in Devecser, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010. The toxic red sludge that inundated three Hungarian villages reached Europe’s mighty Danube River on Thursday but no immediate damage was evident, Hungary’s rescue operations agency said. The European Union and environmental officials had feared an environmental catastrophe affecting half a dozen nations if the red sludge, a waste product of making aluminum, contaminated Europe’s second-longest river after bursting out of a factory’s reservoir.
– Darko Bandic /AP Photo
A Hungarian soldier, wearing protective gear, cleans a yard flooded by toxic mud in Devecser, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010. The toxic red sludge that inundated three Hungarian villages reached Europe’s mighty Danube River on Thursday but no immediate damage was evident, Hungary’s rescue operations agency said. The European Union and environmental officials had feared an environmental catastrophe affecting half a dozen nations if the red sludge, a waste product of making aluminum, contaminated Europe’s second-longest river after bursting out of a factory’s reservoir.
– Bela Szandelszky /AP Photo
A wrecked car, washed away by a flood of toxic mud, stands in a field in the village of Kolontar, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010. The toxic red sludge that inundated three Hungarian villages reached Europe’s mighty Danube River on Thursday but no immediate damage was evident, Hungary’s rescue operations agency said. The European Union and environmental officials had feared an environmental catastrophe affecting half a dozen nations if the red sludge, a waste product of making aluminum, contaminated Europe’s second-longest river after bursting out of a factory’s reservoir.
– Bela Szandelszky /AP Photo
Hungarian soldiers, wearing protective gear, look into a house flooded by toxic mud in Devecser, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010. The toxic red sludge that inundated three Hungarian villages reached Europe’s mighty Danube River on Thursday but no immediate damage was evident, Hungary’s rescue operations agency said. The European Union and environmental officials had feared an environmental catastrophe affecting half a dozen nations if the red sludge, a waste product of making aluminum, contaminated Europe’s second-longest river after bursting out of a factory’s reservoir.
– Bela Szandelszky /AP Photo
A Hungarian fire fighter cleans a street flooded with toxic mud in Devecser, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010. The toxic red sludge that inundated three Hungarian villages reached Europe’s mighty Danube River on Thursday but no immediate damage was evident, Hungary’s rescue operations agency said. The European Union and environmental officials had feared an environmental catastrophe affecting half a dozen nations if the red sludge, a waste product of making aluminum, contaminated Europe’s second-longest river after bursting out of a factory’s reservoir.
– Darko Bandic /AP Photo
A scarecrow is seen in a yard flooded by toxic mud in Devecser, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010. The toxic red sludge that inundated three Hungarian villages reached Europe’s mighty Danube River on Thursday but no immediate damage was evident, Hungary’s rescue operations agency said. The European Union and environmental officials had feared an environmental catastrophe affecting half a dozen nations if the red sludge, a waste product of making aluminum, contaminated Europe’s second-longest river after bursting out of a factory’s reservoir.
– Darko Bandic /AP Photo
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, third left, inspects the devastation in the sludge-hit village of Kolontar,167 kms southwest of Budapest, Hungary, early Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010. The flood of toxic mud killed four people and injured more than one hundred after the dike of a reservoir containing red mud of an alumina factory in nearby Ajka broke three days ago. Over one million cubic meters of the poisonous chemical sludge inundated three villages endangering thousands of people with an ecological catastrophe in the region.
– MTI,Balazs Mohai /AP Photos
Hungarian soldiers clean a yard flooded by toxic mud in Devecser, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010. The toxic red sludge that inundated three Hungarian villages reached Europe’s mighty Danube River on Thursday but no immediate damage was evident, Hungary’s rescue operations agency said. The European Union and environmental officials had feared an environmental catastrophe affecting half a dozen nations if the red sludge, a waste product of making aluminum, contaminated Europe’s second-longest river after bursting out of a factory’s reservoir.
– Darko Bandic /AP Photo
Hungarian fire fighters clean a street flooded by toxic mud in Devecser, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010. The toxic red sludge that inundated three Hungarian villages reached Europe’s mighty Danube River on Thursday but no immediate damage was evident, Hungary’s rescue operations agency said. The European Union and environmental officials had feared an environmental catastrophe affecting half a dozen nations if the red sludge, a waste product of making aluminum, contaminated Europe’s second-longest river after bursting out of a factory’s reservoir.
– Darko Bandic /AP Photo
Hungarian firefighters, wearing protective gear, survey a yard flooded by toxic mud in the village of Kolontar, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010. The toxic red sludge that inundated three Hungarian villages reached Europe’s mighty Danube River on Thursday but no immediate damage was evident, Hungary’s rescue operations agency said. The European Union and environmental officials had feared an environmental catastrophe affecting half a dozen nations if the red sludge, a waste product of making aluminum, contaminated Europe’s second-longest river after bursting out of a factory’s reservoir.
– Bela Szandelszky /AP Photo
A villagers cleans his yard flooded by toxic mud in Kolontar, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010. The toxic red sludge that inundated three Hungarian villages reached Europe’s mighty Danube River on Thursday but no immediate damage was evident, Hungary’s rescue operations agency said. The European Union and environmental officials had feared an environmental catastrophe affecting half a dozen nations if the red sludge, a waste product of making aluminum, contaminated Europe’s second-longest river after bursting out of a factory’s reservoir.
– Bela Szandelszky /AP Photo
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, front left, is interviewed during his tour of the sludge-hit village of Kolontar,167 kms southwest of Budapest, Hungary, early Thursday, Oct. 07, 2010. The flood of toxic mud killed four people and injured more than one hundred after the dike of a reservoir containing red mud of an alumina factory in nearby Ajka broke three days ago. Over one million cubic meters of the poisonous chemical sludge inundated three villages endangering thousands of people with an ecological catastrophe in the region.
– MTI,Balazs Mohai /AP Photos
A Hungarian soldier, wearing protective gear, cleans a house flooded by toxic mud in Devecser, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010. The toxic red sludge that inundated three Hungarian villages reached Europe’s mighty Danube River on Thursday but no immediate damage was evident, Hungary’s rescue operations agency said. The European Union and environmental officials had feared an environmental catastrophe affecting half a dozen nations if the red sludge, a waste product of making aluminum, contaminated Europe’s second-longest river after bursting out of a factory’s reservoir.
– Bela Szandelszky /AP Photo
Community workers, wearing protective gear, clean a street flooded by toxic mud in the village of Kolontar, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010. The toxic red sludge that inundated three Hungarian villages reached Europe’s mighty Danube River on Thursday but no immediate damage was evident, Hungary’s rescue operations agency said. The European Union and environmental officials had feared an environmental catastrophe affecting half a dozen nations if the red sludge, a waste product of making aluminum, contaminated Europe’s second-longest river after bursting out of a factory’s reservoir.
– Bela Szandelszky /AP Photo
Community workers, wearing protective gear, stand in line before cleaning streets flooded by toxic mud in the village of Kolontar, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010. The toxic red sludge that inundated three Hungarian villages reached Europe’s mighty Danube River on Thursday but no immediate damage was evident, Hungary’s rescue operations agency said. The European Union and environmental officials had feared an environmental catastrophe affecting half a dozen nations if the red sludge, a waste product of making aluminum, contaminated Europe’s second-longest river after bursting out of a factory’s reservoir.
– Bela Szandelszky /AP Photo
A Hungarian soldier walks through a street flooded by toxic mud in Devecser, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010. The toxic red sludge that inundated three Hungarian villages reached Europe’s mighty Danube River on Thursday but no immediate damage was evident, Hungary’s rescue operations agency said. The European Union and environmental officials had feared an environmental catastrophe affecting half a dozen nations if the red sludge, a waste product of making aluminum, contaminated Europe’s second-longest river after bursting out of a factory’s reservoir.
– Darko Bandic /AP Photo
The reservoir break Monday disgorged a toxic torrent into creeks that flow into waterways connected to the Danube. Creeks in Kolontar, the western Hungarian village closest to the spill site, were swollen ochre red days later and villagers said they were devoid of fish. Kolontar is 45 miles (70 kilometers) south of the Danube.
The red sludge reached the western branch of the Danube early Thursday and its broad, main stretch by noon, Hungarian rescue agency spokesman Tibor Dobson told the state MTI news agency.
He said up to now there were “no heavy metals in the drinking water” of the affected region but did not address concerns that the caustic slurry might contain toxic heavy metals.
Dobson said the pH content of the red sludge entering the Danube had been reduced to the point where it was unlikely to cause further environmental damage. It had been tested earlier at 13 and now was down under 10, and no dead fish had been spotted where the slurry was entering the Danube, he said. Normal pH levels for surface water range from 6.5 to 8.5.
But the sludge devastated less mighty waterways.
“Life in the Marcal River has been extinguished,” Dobson told The Associated Press, referring to the 25-mile (40-kilometer) stretch of the river that carried the red waste from Kolontar into the Raba River, which then flows into the Danube.
He said emergency crews were pouring plaster and acetic acid – vinegar – into the Raba-Danube meeting point to lower the slurry’s pH value.
“The main effort is now being concentrated on the Raba and the Danube,” he said. “That’s what has to be saved.”
Dobson said the lack of immediate environmental damage to the Danube or Raba was “by no means a victory declaration,” cautioning that dead fish could still turn up shortly.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban, stopping at dawn in Kolontar, described the reservoir break as a disaster unprecedented in Hungary.
“If this had happened at night then everyone here would have died,” the MTI news agency quoted him as telling villagers.
Orban suggested someone was clearly to blame, angrily exclaiming: “This is so irresponsible that it is impossible to find words!”
Local officials said 34 homes in Kolontar were completely unlivable but furious residents said the disaster had destroyed the whole village of 800 by making their land worthless. The prime minister called the worst-hit area a write-off, saying he sees “no sense” in rebuilding in the same location.
It is still not known why part of the reservoir collapsed and allowed the toxic torrent estimated at 35 million cubic feet (1 million cubic meters) of waste to sweep through the villages, killing at least four people and leaving three people missing. Disaster officials said over 150 people had been treated at hospitals, and 11 were still in serious condition Thursday.
Hungary’s top investigative agency, the National Investigation Office, took over the probe into the spill and planned to look into whether on-the-job carelessness was a factor.
MAL Rt., the Hungarian Aluminum Production and Trade Company, owns the Ajkai Timfoldgyar plant where the massive spill occurred.
South of Hungary, the 1,775-mile (2,850-kilometer) long Danube flows through Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Moldova before emptying into the Black Sea.
At the Croatian village of Batina, the first site after the Danube leaves Hungary, experts were taking water samples Thursday which they will repeat daily for the next week, the state-run news agency HINAS reported.
In Romania, water levels were reported safe Thursday, with testing being carried out every three hours. Romanian Waters spokeswoman Ana Maria Tanase said the Danube water had a pH of 8.5, within normal levels, but tests were checking for heavy metals.
The huge reservoir, more than 1,000 feet (300 meters) long and 1,500 feet (450 meters) wide, was no longer leaking and a triple-tiered protective wall was being built around its damaged section. Guards have been posted to give an early warning in case of any new emergency.
Still, Kolontar Mayor Karoly Tili noted that the disaster occurred only a week after Hungarian environmental authorities had declared the reservoir safe.
“People are scared,” he told the AP. “People no longer trust or believe what is said about the reservoir.”
Etel Stampf, 76, was in her backyard in Kolontar when the first waves of the flood hit. She climbed on the roof of her pigsty to survive, but the flooding was so high that one of her legs dangled in the cold red water for an hour and was left badly burned.
“If I don’t die now, I never will,” Stampf said she thought while clinging to the pigsty’s main beam.
“We worked so hard for years to have something for ourselves and now it’s all gone,” Stampf said. “I don’t want to stay here. Ten years from now there will be nothing left of this town.”
Herwit Schuster, a spokesman for Greenpeace International, described the spill as “one of the top three environmental disasters in Europe in the last 20 or 30 years.”
The International Commission for the Protection of the Danube, which manages the river and its tributaries, said the sludge spill could trigger long-term damaging effects for both wildlife and humans.
Red sludge is a byproduct of the refining of bauxite into alumina, the basic material for manufacturing aluminum. Treated sludge is often stored in ponds where the water eventually evaporates, leaving behind a dried red clay-like soil.
Hungarian company officials have insisted the sludge is not considered hazardous waste according to EU standards. The company has also rejected criticism that it should have taken more precautions at the reservoir.
Alumina plants are scattered around the world, with the 12 largest concentrated in Australia, Brazil and China.
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