2 more bodies found in Hungary's red sludge, By Dinah Spritzer, Special to USA TODAY
PRAGUE — The mighty Danube apparently absorbed Hungary's massive red sludge spill with little immediate damage Friday but laboratory tests heightened concerns about possible longer-term harm caused by toxic heavy metals in the slurry.
Government officials lowered their estimate of the size of Monday's catastrophic spill — but even those figures were mind-boggling. They said the reservoir break at an aluminum plant dumped up to 700,000 cubic meters (184 million gallons) of sludge onto three villages — not much less in a few hours than the 200 million gallons the blown-out BP oil well gushed into the Gulf of Mexico over several months beginning in April.
The disaster's confirmed death toll rose from four to seven. An 81-year-old man died Friday from injuries sustained in the torrent and the bodies of two more bodies were found on the outskirts of Devecser. The unidentified victims were likely two of the three Kolontar residents still missing, rescue agency spokesman Tibor Dobson said.
Dobson gave no further details, but the location of the bodies suggested they were swept over 3 kilometers (2 miles) by the torrent. One Kolontar resident was still missing.
Gabor Figvczky, acting CEO of the World Wildlife Fund-Hungary, said he was "more pessimistic" that the red sludge from an aluminum production plant in Hungary would be mostly diluted by the time it reached the Danube, Europe's second-longest river, which forms the borders of 10 countries.
New Hungarian government figures on the red sludge flood show that the volume of muck that escaped from a burst reservoir was almost as high as the blown-out BP oil well spewed into the Gulf of Mexico.
The oil spill amounted to more than 200 million gallons. That translates into 757,000 cubic meters.
As the sludge reached the Moson branch of the Danube near Gyor, west of Budapest, the water's pH (the measure of acidity) was 9.8 compared with the normal level of 7-8, he said.
"That is very alkaline," Figvczky said. "I still think the volume of water in the Danube could flush away the alkaline material."
The sludge burst out of the factory's reservoir and tainted smaller rivers and creeks as it headed downstream. Dead catfish, bream and pike floated in the Moson branch.
SCIENCE FAIR: Expert: Toxic sludge threatens drinking water for millions
Figvczky said anything that was in the Marcal River, which the sludge reached Wednesday, was dead. "It is destroyed completely," he said.
Joe Hennon, the European Commission's spokesman for the environment, said the state of the red sludge in the Danube was "worrying."
Officials from Croatia, Serbia and Romania took river samples every few hours, hoping the Danube's huge water volume would disperse the contaminants and render them somewhat harmless.
The Hungarian reservoir break flooded three villages Monday, killing four people and burning dozens. Creeks in Kolontar, the western village closest to the spill site, were swollen and red days later.
The Hungarian Academy of Science said sludge samples taken two days ago showed that the muck's heavy metal concentrations do "not come close" to levels considered dangerous to the environment. But the academy said Thursday it still considered the sludge dangerous because of its caustic characteristics.
South of Hungary, the 1,775-mile-long Danube flows through Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Moldova before emptying into the Black Sea.
At the Croatian village of Batina, the first site after the Danube leaves Hungary, experts will continue taking water samples daily for the next week. In Romania, water levels were reported safe.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, stopping at dawn in Kolontar, described the reservoir break as an unprecedented disaster in Hungary.
"If this had happened at night, then everyone here would have died," he was quoted by MTI as telling villagers. "This is so irresponsible that it is impossible to find words!"
Residents of Kolontar said the disaster destroyed the whole village of 800 by making their land worthless. The prime minister called the worst-hit area a total write-off, saying he saw "no sense" in rebuilding in the same location.
"The whole settlement should be bulldozed into the ground," Janos Potza said. "There's no point for anyone to go back home."
Government officials lowered their estimate of the size of Monday's catastrophic spill — but even those figures were mind-boggling. They said the reservoir break at an aluminum plant dumped up to 700,000 cubic meters (184 million gallons) of sludge onto three villages — not much less in a few hours than the 200 million gallons the blown-out BP oil well gushed into the Gulf of Mexico over several months beginning in April.
The disaster's confirmed death toll rose from four to seven. An 81-year-old man died Friday from injuries sustained in the torrent and the bodies of two more bodies were found on the outskirts of Devecser. The unidentified victims were likely two of the three Kolontar residents still missing, rescue agency spokesman Tibor Dobson said.
Dobson gave no further details, but the location of the bodies suggested they were swept over 3 kilometers (2 miles) by the torrent. One Kolontar resident was still missing.
Gabor Figvczky, acting CEO of the World Wildlife Fund-Hungary, said he was "more pessimistic" that the red sludge from an aluminum production plant in Hungary would be mostly diluted by the time it reached the Danube, Europe's second-longest river, which forms the borders of 10 countries.
New Hungarian government figures on the red sludge flood show that the volume of muck that escaped from a burst reservoir was almost as high as the blown-out BP oil well spewed into the Gulf of Mexico.
The oil spill amounted to more than 200 million gallons. That translates into 757,000 cubic meters.
As the sludge reached the Moson branch of the Danube near Gyor, west of Budapest, the water's pH (the measure of acidity) was 9.8 compared with the normal level of 7-8, he said.
"That is very alkaline," Figvczky said. "I still think the volume of water in the Danube could flush away the alkaline material."
The sludge burst out of the factory's reservoir and tainted smaller rivers and creeks as it headed downstream. Dead catfish, bream and pike floated in the Moson branch.
SCIENCE FAIR: Expert: Toxic sludge threatens drinking water for millions
Figvczky said anything that was in the Marcal River, which the sludge reached Wednesday, was dead. "It is destroyed completely," he said.
Joe Hennon, the European Commission's spokesman for the environment, said the state of the red sludge in the Danube was "worrying."
Officials from Croatia, Serbia and Romania took river samples every few hours, hoping the Danube's huge water volume would disperse the contaminants and render them somewhat harmless.
The Hungarian reservoir break flooded three villages Monday, killing four people and burning dozens. Creeks in Kolontar, the western village closest to the spill site, were swollen and red days later.
The Hungarian Academy of Science said sludge samples taken two days ago showed that the muck's heavy metal concentrations do "not come close" to levels considered dangerous to the environment. But the academy said Thursday it still considered the sludge dangerous because of its caustic characteristics.
South of Hungary, the 1,775-mile-long Danube flows through Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Moldova before emptying into the Black Sea.
At the Croatian village of Batina, the first site after the Danube leaves Hungary, experts will continue taking water samples daily for the next week. In Romania, water levels were reported safe.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, stopping at dawn in Kolontar, described the reservoir break as an unprecedented disaster in Hungary.
"If this had happened at night, then everyone here would have died," he was quoted by MTI as telling villagers. "This is so irresponsible that it is impossible to find words!"
Residents of Kolontar said the disaster destroyed the whole village of 800 by making their land worthless. The prime minister called the worst-hit area a total write-off, saying he saw "no sense" in rebuilding in the same location.
"The whole settlement should be bulldozed into the ground," Janos Potza said. "There's no point for anyone to go back home."
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