A JUDGE yesterday dismissed prosecution demands that the head of a metals company linked to Hungary’s devastating red sludge spill be charged with negligence and he has been released from police custody, his lawyer said.

POLICE have detained the director of the aluminum company responsible for a flood of caustic red sludge that killed eight people when it burst from its reservoir last week.

Emergency workers and construction crews in Hungary were today struggling to clear roads and homes hit by a spill of toxic red sludge.