DANIEL McLAUGHLIN
SLUDGE RELEASED by a deadly industrial accident is no longer a danger to the river Danube, according to Hungary.
However, environmental groups have challenged that claim and questioned whether the disaster could have been prevented.
Some 700,000 cubic metres of toxic mud burst from a waste pool at an alumina plant in southwest Hungary on Monday, devastating nearby villages and about 40sq km and killing all life in the river Marcal, which flows into the Danube.
One of about 120 people injured by the wave of caustic filth died yesterday and two bodies were found, bringing the death toll to seven. One person is still missing.
Workers poured tonnes of neutralising agents into the Marcal to reduce the acidity before it reached Europe’s second longest river. Although dead fish were spotted in the Danube on Thursday, officials said yesterday that the emergency was easing.
“The good news is that we have succeeded in bringing it under control and very probably waters threatening the environment will not enter the Danube, even on Hungarian territory,” said prime minister Viktor Orban.
The government said drinking water supplies had not been affected and that the acidity level of the Danube near the site of the spill was almost neutral.
Coppied by http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/1009/1224280699449.html
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