Sludge relief

RESIDENTS are beginning to return home to Kolontar, the town in western Hungary flooded with toxic red sludge when a metals plant reservoir burst its banks last week.

Disaster agency spokeswoman Gyorgyi Tottos says 30 residents were taken to Kolontar in buses yesterday from a sports arena in the nearby town of Ajka where they had been staying since being evacuated.

But environmental group Greenpeace says it’s too early to send residents back into Kolontar because there is not enough data yet on the area’s safety.

A protective wall has been built in Kolontar to shield the area from further spills of red sludge, a highly caustic waste product from the making of aluminum. Nine people died in the toxic flood and 50 are still hospitalised.