Managing director of the aluminum company responsible for a flood of toxic red sludge, Zoltan Bakonyi, is being questioned on the suspicion of public endangerment causing multiple deaths and environmental damage (Yahoo! News). .
The sludge burst from its reservoir last week, killing eight people. The European Union and environmental groups are worried that the sludge could spread down the Danube River, resulting in long-term consequences for many nations. Emergency workers are currently trying to build temporary barriers to slow down the sludge before it reaches the Danube River. They will then scoop out as much as possible. The idea is that the sludge will be so diluted by the time it reaches the river that it won't be harmful anymore. However, the heavy metal that is part of the sludge will sink to the bottom of the river, posing consequences that will not surface immediately (CBS News). .
Prime Minister Viktor Orban believes that the flood was not an accident. ""Since this is not a natural catastrophe but the damage was brought about by people, the damages must be paid first and foremost not by taxpayers but by those who caused the damage," Orban said. "We have well-founded reasons to believe that there were people who knew about the dangerous weakening of the reservoir wall, but for personal reasons they thought it wasn't worth repairing and hoped there'd be no trouble," he went on to say. Bakonyi, however, maintains that he had not noticed anything irregular at the site. "The reservoir .
