London, 15 October 2010

Hungarian police have arrested an aluminum plant executive over a fatal toxic sludge crisis, and the state has temporarily seized control of the firm. At least eight people were killed, 150 others injured and scores left homeless when the MAL Hungarian Aluminum Production and Trade Company leaked toxic sludge from its plant in Ajka, some 160 kilometers from the capital, Budapest.

Engineers are rushing to complete a dam that would keep the toxic spill from making its way into the area's reservoir. Company director Zoltan Bakonyi was detained for questioning earlier this week, and the Hungarian parliament voted on 9 October to temporarily take over the company. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a statement that the disaster was the result of "human negligence". The Prime Minister's Office said that the cause of the chemical disaster was MAL's practice of overloading a reservoir of toxic waste at its Ajka plant. Last week, the reservoir's walls cracked and toxic sludge leaked out, contaminating 40 square kilometers of land and seeping into the Danube river. There is risk of a second toxic spill if a new dam is not completed in time.

Analytical Note:

Though media is referring to the government takeover of MAL as "nationalization", government officials have been quick to point out that this is not a nationalization, but a temporary takeover, pending an investigation over how the spill happened. They also said the plant could be reopened later this week.

Some are criticizing Orban's "populist" response to the disaster - in the form of  quick state takeover - but this is typical of Orban's style of governing, and under pressure from ordinary Hungarians to take immediate action and to be given a sense of protection by the state some say he had little choice. Corruption may also come in to play, alongside human negligence, once the investigation gets under way. Reports said that a state environmental inspection had been undertaken just weeks prior to the disaster, and that everything had been in order. Other company executives and witnesses have already told investigators that Bakonyi was aware of the overloading of the reservoirs before they burst.

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