Islami News: Crews race to tackle Hungary spill

Rescue crews are running to make roads and homes after a flood of toxic red sludge swept over three Hungarian counties, killing four people and injuring 120.Hungary declared a state of emergency after thick red sludge burst from a source at Ajkai Timfoldgyar Zrt metals found in Ajka, in the country's southwest.An estimated 700,000 cubic metres of the waste, a by-product of aluminium production, poured through Kolontar and two former villages, leading hundreds of mass to be evacuated.

any have suffered from burns and eye irritations caused by wind and other corrosive elements in the mud.Fears for DanubeThere are fears that the pollution has already found its way into the Marcal river, which is attached to the Danube River, one of Europe's major waterways.Sandor Toth, deputy head of the water management company for western Hungary said the sludge could potentially make the Danube within 4 or 5 days."From the tip of view of water management, it's a catastrophe," he said.The European Union said on Wednesday that it feared the catastrophe could open to half a dozen European nations and was quick to provide help."This is a serious environmental problem," Joe Hennon, an EU spokesman, told The Associated Press news agency. "We are concerned, not only for the environs in Hungary, but this could potentially cross borders."Emergency workers and construction crews are pouring plaster into a river about the talk in an effort to neutralize the wild and keep it entering major river systems.Timea Petroczi, a spokeswoman for the disaster relief services, said that efforts to waste the contamination was "already getting good results showing that alkaline levels in the water are falling"."We've got 500 people involved in the clean-up today. We're using high-pressure water jets to clear roads and houses."'Caustic effect'Hungary's national disasters unit defined the red mud on its website as: "A by-product of alumina production"."The thick, highly alkaline substance has a corrosive effect on the skin. The sludge contains heavy metals, such as lead, and is slightly radioactive. Inhaling its dust can cause lung cancer."A Greenpeace expert said the shock from the mud spill could be much worse than a cyanide spill at Baia Mare in Romania 10 years ago, when cyanide-tainted water was fired from a gold mine reservoir, polluting the Tisza and Danube rivers."This tragedy is 7 times as great as the incidental in Baia Mare," Katerina Ventusova, a Greenpeace expert for toxics, said."The ecological impact can be very extensive and have a long time to waste because heavy metals and caustic soda form a really dangerous toxic mix."Anna Nagy, a government spokesperson, said an investigation was under way to "determine the person criminally responsible"."It is manifestly not a natural catastrophe - it was caused by human mistake," she said.The country's state secretary said there was a misgiving that the party which owns the source had stored more red sludge than was allowed, or that containers had not been properly fitted.Greenpeace also said satellite imagery taken a day ahead the disaster showed "catastrophic cracks in the tank's walls".However, MAL Zrt has insisted it had done nothing wrong."According to the everyday and annual checks, everything was working fine," Zoltan Bakonyi, MAL chief, said.MAL Zrt said on Wednesday that it wanted to resume production at the weekend. The government suspended production after Monday's spill.Polluted homesPeople in Kolontar, which lies nearest to the burst reservoir, were trying to find their property on Wednesday but police were not yet letting them fall to their polluted homes."My bathtub is good of this sludge . when the dam burst, it made a tremendous noise. I was in my yard, and I had to run up the steps to the porch but the urine was rising faster than I could run," Ferenc Steszli, 60, said.Farmland around the settlement was covered in the muck and many livestock was killed.Nagy told it is "forbidden and impossible" for local residents to yield to their homes."Everything is covered in this poisonous toxic sludge. There is no radiation, fortunately, but it causes severe burning and casualties when touched. Surface waters are polluted but thick water, where drinking water is supplied from, is not, which is very lucky," she said.She said that there was a serious chance of preventing the mud from entering big river systems such as the Danube.MAL Zrt, the possessor of the plant, said in a command that there had been no mark of the impending disaster, and that the red sludge did not qualify as hazardous waste according to European Union standards.Reporting from the disaster area, said that the wrong from the release is enormous. "They [MAL Zrt] are claiming it is not hazardous waste, which is a bit of a semantic game they are performing at the moment."The red sludge is not classified as hazardous waste per se, but the EU said today, that does not think it is not toxic and does not think it is not dangerous, because very clearly, it is both," our correspondent said.MAL Zrt recommended people to clear off the goo with water to neutralise the substance.

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