Hungary has declared a state of emergency in three counties affected by flood of red sludge leaking from a failed reservoir at the Ajkai Timfoldgyar aluminum plant in Ajka (100 miles Southwest of Budapest). The nation’s Environmental Affairs State Secretary Zontan Illes is calling the incident an “ecological disaster” and fears the sludge may reach the Danube River.
The sludge, which is the waste product of aluminum production, contains heavy metals and causes chemical burns and is poisonous if ingested. So far, the toxic sludge has leaked into an area of 15.4 square miles. Four people are dead, six missing, and at least 120 are injured or suffering from chemical burns. Those with burns are being carefully monitored to ensure superficial injuries do not progress into the deep tissue.
Many residents fled their homes seeking shelter of higher ground as the wave of sludge hit. Hundreds have been relocated.
The Hungarian government has long been warned of the risk of the red sludge that has been accumulating for decades. MAL Rt., who owns the Ajka plant, denies that more precautions should’ve been taken to secure the reservoir. In a statement the group said that, “company management could not have noticed the signs of the natural catastrophe nor done anything to prevent it while carefully respecting technological procedures.”
