Clean-up struggle in Hungary as fears grow toxic sludge could reach Danube

Hundreds of people were evacuated after the disaster, when a gigantic sludge reservoir burst its banks at a metals plant in Ajka, a town 100 miles south-west of Budapest, the capital.

The torrent inundated homes, swept cars off roads and damaged bridges, disgorging an estimated one million cubic metres of toxic waste onto several nearby towns.

Hungarian officials declared a state of emergency, calling the spill “an ecological disaster” that could threaten the River Danube, one of Europe’s great waterways.

At least four people have been killed by the sludge, three were still missing yesterday and 120 injured, many with burns.

The European Union warned the spill could produce ecological disaster in other nations.

With the Danube flowing through Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Moldova before spilling into the Black Sea, there is the potential for widespread serious environmental damage.

EU spokesman Joe Hennon said the organisation stood ready to help.

In Kolontar, the town nearest to the plant, a military construction crew was trying to get a pontoon bridge across a toxic stream so residents could get home and rescue belongings.

Emergency workers rushed to pour 1,000 tons of plaster into the River Marcal in an attempt to bind the sludge and keep it from flowing on to the Danube, 45 miles away.

Red sludge is a by-product of refining bauxite into alumina, the material for manufacturing aluminium. It contains heavy metals and is toxic if ingested. It is common to store treated sludge in evaporation ponds.