Crews struggle to clear toxic Hungary sludge flood

[October 06, 2010]  KOLONTAR, Hungary (AP) -- 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.

Hungarian officials have declared a state of emergency, calling the spill "an ecological disaster" that could threaten the Danube River, one of Europe's great waterways. At least four people have been killed by the sludge, three were still missing and 120 injured, many with burns.

In Kolontar, the town nearest to the plant, mayor Karoly Tily said Wednesday he cannot give a "reassuring answer" to residents who feared a repeat of Monday's calamity.

A military construction crew was in Kolontar on Wednesday, trying to assemble a pontoon bridge across a toxic stream so residents could briefly return to their homes and rescue belongings.

Emergency workers wearing masks and chemical protection gear also rushed to pour 1,000 tons of plaster into the Marcal River in an attempt to bind the sludge and keep it from flowing on to the Danube, 45 miles (72 kilometers) away.

Workers in full hazmat gear including respirators contrasted sharply with residents, who used snow shovels to clear the thick red mud and salvaged possessions with little more than rubber gloves as protection.

Named for its bright red color, the material is a waste product in aluminum production that contains heavy metals and is toxic if ingested.

Erzsebet Veingartner was in her kitchen when the 12-foot (3.6-meter)-high wave of red slurry hit, sweeping away everything in its path.

"I looked outside and all I saw was the stream swelling like a huge wave," the 61-year-old widow said Tuesday as she surveyed her backyard, still under 6 feet (1.8 meters) of noxious muck.

"I lost all my chickens, my ducks, my Rottweiler, and my potato patch. My late husband's tools and machinery were in the shed and it's all gone," sobbed the woman, who gets by on a $350 monthly pension. "I have a winter's worth of firewood in the basement and it's all useless now."

Dozens of villagers were burned when the caustic material seeped through their clothing. Two women, a young man and a 3-year-old child were killed.

Officials were also quite concerned about the sludge contaminating the Danube, a 1,775-mile (2,850-kilometer)-long river that passes through some of the continent's most pristine vistas from its origin in Germany to its end point emptying into the Black Sea.

The river flows through four former communist nations -- Hungary, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria. One of the continent's greatest treasuries of wildlife, it has been the focus of a multibillion dollar post-communist cleanup.

Still, high-risk industries such as Hungary's Ajkai Timfoldgyar alumina plant are still producing waste near some of its tributaries, posing a threat to the waterway.

Environmental Affairs State Secretary Zoltan Illes called the spill an "ecological catastrophe," and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban acknowledged that authorities were caught off guard by the disaster. Orban said the alumina plant and reservoir had been inspected only two weeks earlier and no irregularities had been found.

Red sludge is a byproduct of the refining of bauxite into alumina, the basic material for manufacturing aluminum. It is common to store treated sludge in ponds where the water eventually evaporates, leaving behind a dried red clay-like soil, industry representatives in the U.S. and London said.

They could not explain why the Hungarian victims were burned by the material, saying if it is properly treated it is not hazardous. But Hungarian environmentalist Gergely Simon said this sludge had been accumulating in the reservoir for decades and was extremely alkaline, with a pH value of about 13 -- nearly equivalent to lye -- which is what caused the burns.

MAL Rt., the Hungarian Aluminum Production and Trade Company that owns the Ajkai plant, said that according to European Union standards, red sludge is not considered hazardous waste.

The company also denied that it should have taken more precautions to shore up the reservoir, a huge structure more than 1,000 feet (300 meters) long and 500 yards (450 meters) wide.

Clearly angered by the company's suggestions that the substance was not hazardous, Interior Minister Sandor Pinter, snapped: "They should take a swim in it and then they'll see."

[Associated Press; By PABLO GORONDI]

Associated Press writer George Jahn in Vienna and Business Writer Jon Fahey contributed to this report.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.