One of Europe's worst industrial pollution incidents, releasing one million cubic metres of toxic red mud across 40 square kilometres of western Hungary.
Key Facts
- Date of collapse
- 4 October 2010, 12:25 CEST
- Volume of waste released
- approximately 1,000,000 cubic metres
- Deaths
- 10 people
- Injuries
- 150 people
- Land initially affected
- 40 square kilometres
- Spill reached the Danube
- 7 October 2010
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Following an unusually wet summer across central Europe, the northwestern corner of dam reservoir number 10 at the Ajkai Timföldgyár alumina plant became structurally compromised. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán attributed the failure to presumed human error, and police seized documents from the plant after its operator, MAL Hungarian Aluminium, stated the last inspection had revealed nothing abnormal.
On 4 October 2010, the dam of reservoir number 10 at the Ajka alumina plant in Veszprém County, Hungary, collapsed, releasing roughly one million cubic metres of caustic red mud as a wave one to two metres high. The flood inundated several localities including the village of Kolontár and the town of Devecser, killing ten people and injuring 150.
Approximately 40 square kilometres of land were contaminated by the toxic alkaline sludge. The spill reached the Danube River on 7 October 2010, raising international concerns about broader ecological damage. Authorities launched a criminal investigation, seizing documents from the plant operator MAL Hungarian Aluminium as part of the inquiry into the cause of the disaster.