Satellite image of the westward flowing, orange colored toxic mud; the factory on the right
The damming of a reservoir of the alumina plant of Ajka was an environmental disaster in Hungary that took place in 2010.
On October 4, 2010, the wall of a sludge sludge broke with red mud at MAL aluminum plant in Ajka. This resulted in a floodwave with 1 000,000 cubic meters of sludge washed away. The toxic red mud contains heavy metals and causes environmental damage. In the Veszprém region a large area was flooded and especially the towns of Kolontár and Devecser were affected. There were nine deaths and about 123 injured.
On the 7th of October the mud reached the river Danube, but the damage remained limited.
In 2011, MAL was sentenced to paying 135 billion forint (500 million euros) damages.
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