Danube fears eased over toxic red mud

The spill was triggered when a reservoir burst, dumping 158 million to 184 million gallons of sludge onto three villages.

The death toll rose to five when an 81-year-old man died yesterday morning from injuries sustained in the flooding

Philip Weller, who heads the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube said when asked about harm to the waterways ecosystem: “The consequences do not seem to be that dramatic.”

The red sludge entered the Danube on Thursday and was moving downstream yest erday toward Hungary’s immediate neighbours, Croatia, Serbia and Romania, amid fears that it would kill the river’s fish and plant life.

While Hungarian creeks and rivers near the collapsed reservoir were devastated by the red sludge, the Danube, Europe’s second-largest river, appeared to be absorbing it due to its huge volume of water.

Environment group Greenpeace said samples taken from the sludge showed high concentrations of toxic substances – arsenic, mercury and chrome.

The sludge is a by-product of aluminium production and was held in the reservoir, a section of which collapsed.

Emergency crews have now drained a second industrial reservoir at the alumina plant in Ajka, western Hungary, to prevent another disaster.