Exited things Hungary: Two bodies found -- red sludge death toll rises to seven

Hungary: Two bodies found -- red sludge death toll rises to seven


BUDAPEST - Emergency workers found the bodies of two more victims of the toxic red sludge near the village of Devecser on Friday afternoon, bringing the death toll of the spill to seven.

One person remains missing.

Tibor Dobson, spokesman for the disaster mitigation staff reported finding the two bodies, but gave no details. Two women and one man are believed to have been missing.

An 81-year-old man hospitalized on Monday died of his injuries on Friday. Other victims were an elderly woman, a 35-year-old man drowned in his car, and two children, aged 3 and 1.

The Hungarian Aluminum Manufacturing and Trading Company, owner of the containment reservoir that released the caustic sludge which inundated three villages and wiped out all living matter in the Torna creek and Marcal river, issued a statement on Friday, arguing that it had not violated any rules. The company's measurements of the chemistry in the reservoir, CEO Zoltan Bakonyi said, yielded normal values, and a Monday morning inspection of the retaining wall found nothing of concern.

He said that seepage, reported by staff weeks ago, was normal in a facility of that size and the sludge leaks had been collected and returned to the reservoir.

State Secretary for the Environment Zoltan Illes said on Friday that while the magnesium and calcium nitrates introduced into the Raba and Marcal waterways at their confluence had sufficiently reduced the pH level of the red sludge to save the Danube ecology, most of the mud had been trapped in the Marcal, where all life was destroyed.

The sludge, Illes said, covered an area of 800 to 1,000 hectares, where the contaminated topsoil will have to be removed.

Meanwhile Jozsef Varga, CEO of uranium ore company Mecsekerc and a chemical engineer by profession, told local wire service MTI that it would take months or even years to restore the natural environment. He called it folly to expect people to be able to return to their contaminated homes within a short time, adding that the next major job would be to collect the red dust covering the soil and in the atmosphere. If inhaled it will be caustic, he warned.
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4 decapitated bodies hung from bridge in Mexico

Watch and enjoy 4 decapitated bodies hung from bridge in Mexico

Associated Press Writer= CUERNAVACA, Mexico (AP) — The decapitated bodies of four men were hung from a bridge Sunday in this central Mexican city besieged by fighting between two drug lords.

A gang led by kingpin Hector Beltran Leyva took responsibility for the killings in a message left with the bodies, the attorney general's office of Morelos state said in a statement.

The beheaded and mutilated bodies were hung by their feet early Sunday from the bridge in Cuernavaca, a popular weekend getaway for Mexico City residents.

Cuernavaca has become a battleground for control of the Beltran Leyva cartel since its leader, Arturo Beltran Leyva, was killed there in a December shootout with marines.

Mexican authorities say the cartel split between a faction led by Hector Beltran Leyva, brother of Arturo, and another led by Edgar Valdez Villarreal, a U.S.-born kingpin known as "the Barbie."

The message left with the bodies threatened: "This is what will happen to all those who support the traitor Edgar Valdez Villarreal."

Authorities said the four men had been kidnapped days earlier. The family of one of the men reported the abduction to police.

In western Mexico, police found the body of a U.S. citizen inside a car along the highway between the Pacific resorts of Acapulco and Zihuatanejo.

A report from Guerrero state police said the man was shot to death and had identification indicating he was from Georgia.

The U.S. Embassy could not be reached to confirm the man's identity.

Police said they had no suspects and had not determined a motive.

Guerrero state has been wracked by drug-gang violence, including the strife within the Beltran Leyva cartel. There have also been a series of deadly carjackings this year along highways in the state.

Mexico has seen unprecedented gang violence since President Felipe Calderon stepped up the fight against drug trafficking when he took office in December 2006, deploying thousands of troops and federal police to cartel strongholds.

Since then, more than 28,000 people have been killed in violence tied to Mexico's drug war.

(This version CORRECTS tate where Cuernavaca is located to Morelos instead of state of Mexico, corrects the second family name of 'Barbie' to Villarreal instead of Villareal.)
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