Toxic sludge floods Hungary

Hungary has declared a state of emergency in three western counties after a reservoir ruptured at an alumina plant, flooding nearby villages with toxic sludge and killing at least four people.

More than 100 people were injured by the flooding, some of whom suffered very serious burns and eye irritation from contact with the caustic alkaline material, which is produced in bauxite refining.

Hundreds of residents were evacuated after the torrent of red sludge -- more than two metres high in places -- cascaded through the town of Devecser, about 100 miles south-west of Budapest.

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• hungary
• red
• sludge
• toxic
• chemical
• disaster
• devecser
• iszap
• ecological
• catastrophe