Hungarian Town Buried In 1.1 Million M3 Of Toxic Sludge - 4 Dead, 120 Injured, Ooze Heads Downstream

[hatrack]

Hungary declared a state of emergency on Tuesday after a toxic mud spill killed four people and injured 120 in what officials described as Hungary's worst-ever chemical accident. With eight people in serious condition and as many as six people missing, officials fear the death toll could rise after the walls of a reservoir of residue at an aluminium plant in Ajka, 165 kilometres (102 miles) west of Budapest, broke on Monday afternoon.

Three nearby villages were swamped with 1.1 million cubic metres (38.8 million cubic feet) of toxic red sludge, leading the interior ministry to call a state of emergency in the counties of Veszprem, Gyor-Moson-Sopron and Vas on Tuesday. According to Karoly Tily, the mayor of Kolontar, one of the villages, two children -- aged three and one -- were among the dead.

EDIT

Up to 40 square kilometres (15.4 square miles) of land were affected and there were fears that some of the sludge had already found its way into the Marcal river and could therefore potentially pollute the connecting Raba and Danube rivers. In a bid to prevent that, army helicopters had dropped neutralising agents into the Marcal, Illes said.

"It must be collected and neutralised so as to prevent a full ecological catastrophe affecting the entire region," Illes said. The red mud is a toxic residue left over from aluminium production and contains harmful substances such as lead as well as highly corrosive elements.

EDIT

http://www.physorg.com/news205473487.html%E2%80%9D/

[juajen]

1. Wonder how many potential disasters are waiting for us?

Maybe from the pig sludge ponds in NC. I read that part of the rivers in the Smokey Mtns. were contaminated already. Corporations just want the money; they could care less about safety, and governments all over the world are complicit. We have many catastrophes just waiting to happen.

[Myrina]

2. "neutralizing agents" ?

Rut roh. :scared:

[asjr]

3. Each time the pot is stirred there is

bigger danger ahead. If we can't clean up our messes this is what is left.

[GliderGuider]

4. My fiance is Hungarian. She's devastated by the news.

It's not quite so abstract when it hits someone you love.