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On 4 October 2010, the dam of a toxic waste tank produced by an aluminum plant collapsed in northwestern Hungary. After eight years of trial, a Hungarian court on Monday (February 4th) sentenced ten people, including the former director of the factory.
On October 4, 2010, Hungary was experiencing the most serious industrial accident in its history. Following the break-up of a cracked tank at the MAL-bauxite mill in Ajka, 160 km west of Budapest, more than one million cubic meters of toxic red mud had engulfed three villages . Assessment: ten dead, more than 200 wounded and the Danube and its tributaries seriously polluted.
In a first trial in 2016, the court had released the defendants, saying they were not responsible, recalls our correspondent in Budapest, Florence La Bruyère . But a court of appeal ordered a new trial. And the court of Gyor, in the west of the country, has just delivered a judgment at first instance.
Former factory manager Zoltan Bakonyi is given two and a half years in prison. His deputy is sentenced to two years in prison, while other defendants receive suspended sentences. All are found to be responsible for negligent homicide and harm to public property and the environment. But the state, which was responsible for verifying the plant's facilities and issued operating permits year after year, was not questioned by the courts.
Eight years after the disaster of red mud, and despite hundreds of millions of euros invested in the cleanup, hundreds of hectares remain prohibited to culture. Most of the inhabitants were relocated a few kilometers from the affected villages. But dozens of them refused to return to live in the area.