A deadly deluge

„Like Chernobyl and Bhopal, Kolontar never wanted to be on the map. Not like this, anyway, painted red as though an angry God had directed a tidal wave of toxic sludge on to this sleepy hamlet. People, livestock, vehicles and possessions were all swept away until, suddenly, it stopped, leaving houses marked with precise tidemarks.

Kolontar, in western Hungary, is one of several settlements to be hit. The village has suffered so badly that officials say it will probably have to be entirely evacuated, its inhabitants resettled in new houses. (...) Bulldozers lurch back and forth across the main street, their scoops piled high with debris, smashed household goods and twisted pieces of wreckage: everything the same reddish-brown tone. Helicopters circle overhead and the air has a strange cloying smell. The village creek and the nearby Marcal river are now devoid of life, as the sludge has destroyed fish, vegetation and wildlife. (...)

The National Investigation Bureau, Hungary’s equivalent of the FBI, has opened a criminal investigation into the disaster. The government says it is determined to bring those responsible for the spillage to justice. But it is probably too late for Kolontar.”