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Hungary factory reservoir bursts, floods villages

by (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. Click For Restrictions. http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Monday, 4 October 2010 12:26 GMT

BUDAPEST, Oct 4 (Reuters) - The dam of a sludge reservoir at a big alumina factory in western Hungary burst on Monday, flooding parts of two villages, the regional emergency unit said, adding that it was not known if there were any casualties.

Gyorgy Bakos, spokesman for the Veszprem county disaster control unit, told Reuters that parts of the villages of Kolontar and Devecser were affected by flooding from the reservoir. About 300-400 residents could be affected.

"This is sludge which contains high concentration of heavy metals," Bakos said by phone. He said about 600,000-700,000 cubic metres of sludge spilled from the reservoir.

National news agency MTI said children from a school in Kolontar, about 160 km (100 miles) west of Budapest, had to be evacuated. (Reporting by Krisztina Than and Marton Dunai; Editing by Charles Dick)

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