BUDAPEST, Oct. 9, 2010 (Xinhua) --

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban Saturday promised residents of evacuated Kolontar in western Hungary a barrier to protect them and their property from any further contamination by a red sludge deluge that has left seven people dead and over 150 others injured.

Speaking at a news conference in Ajka in the region, Orban warned that the containment barrier holding millions more gallons of caustic red sludge was so badly damaged that it was at risk of collapsing once again.

He made the comments after visiting the barrier earlier in the day. The damaged barrier was the reason the village of Kolontar had been evacuated shortly after daybreak and why the residents of nearby Devecser had been prepared to also leave their homes.

The latest crack in the barrier is 7 centimeters (about 3 inches), he said. Another half a million cubic meters of sludge could spill out of the reservoir, Orban said.

Commenting on the Saturday morning evacuation, the prime minister said that people were "sad and nervous, but there was no panic." Thanks to the heroic efforts of the armed forces and law enforcement bodies, the people are safe, Orban said.

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Csaba Hende told local wire service MTI that Devecser could be evacuated immediately, if necessary. There are 127 military vehicles in a state of readiness, he said.

Meanwhile, the Water and Environment Management chief for northwest Hungary, Emil Janak, reported that as of Saturday morning, the pH level of the Marcal river had been reduced to less than 8.5, which is close to normal.

7 die in Hungary's toxic sludge

English.news.cn   2010-10-09 13:15:58 FeedbackRSS

BEIJING, Oct. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Rescue services say they have found two more victims of Hungary's catastrophic tide of red sludge, bringing the death toll to seven. T

he sludge, containing heavy metal elements spilled from an aluminum factory.

Besides Hungary, the sludge is also heading to Croatia, Serbia and Romania. Local governments there are taking measures to prevent pollution.

The two victims' bodies were found Friday afternoon. Rescuers say they were most likely residents missing from the nearby town of Kolontar. Another Kolontar resident is also missing.

The town has been badly hit by the sludge which forced villagers to leave their homes.

Gyorgy Magyar, Local Lawyer, said, "If it's unreasonable to live here and the people want to move somewhere else we have to accept that fact."

Meanwhile, the mighty Danube has also been affected. Laboratory tests have raised concerns about possible long-term damage.

Janos Szepvolgyi, Director of Hungarian Academy of Sciences, said, "We didn't say that the red mud is not dangerous, it is dangerous material. But in our opinion, the main danger comes from high alkalinity, from the caustic nature of the material, and the level of metals that are precipitated into the water is very low - we can say that the danger they pose is very little."

Efforts are being made to stop the pollutants from flowing into the Danube.

Emergency crews are pouring plaster and acetic acid vinegar into the Danube to lower its acidity.

The plume of the red sludge is moving south towards Serbia and Romania.

The reservoir break at the alumina plant dumped up to 700 thousand cubic meters of sludge onto three villages. The amount of spill is said to be almost equal to that of the oil spilled in the Gulf of Mexico.

(Source: CCTV)