A day after the managing director of MAL Hungarian Aluminium Production and Trade Company was detained for questioning in the country's worst-ever chemical accident, the government seized control of the company and froze its assets.

A bill nationalising MAL was passed by the parliament, with 336 votes in favour, one against and 13 abstentions, and then signed into law by President Pal Schmitt.

Under the legislation, the government will freeze the assets of MAL and install at the helm its own representative or commissioner who will be responsible for resolving the current catastrophe that has left eight people dead, 150 injured and hundreds homeless.

The law says the commissioner -- national disaster chief Gyorgy Bakondi -- will "report directly to Prime Minister (Viktor Orban) and work under him for a period of two years."

Orban's spokesman Peter Szijjarto explained that Bakondi's main tasks would be "to prepare the resumption of operations at the site so as to safeguard jobs; to determine liability; launch the compensation process; and make sure no further accident occurs."

Bakondi said he would begin by taking a close look at MAL's financial situation.

He told a news conference in Budapest that "all the offices and sites of MAL are under police guard and we've taken control of their IT systems."

Bakondi estimated production could resume at the plant "at the end of the week."

MAL is a major employer in the region, with a workforce of 1,100.

The company has been accused of overloading a reservoir of toxic residue at its alumina plant in Ajka, 160 kilometres (100 miles) from Budapest.

The reservoir's retaining walls burst a week ago, sending a wave of toxic sludge through surrounding villages and across an area of 40 square kilometres (15.4 square miles) and polluting the Danube and its tributaries.

The ecosystems of two small rivers, the Torna and the Marcal, have been wiped out completely. But alkaline levels -- a measure of water contamination -- in the Danube itself have normalised since the accident.

The villages of Kolontar and Devecser were the hardest hit and at least eight people from Kolontar died in the disaster and 45 people remain hospitalised, two in serious condition.

The company denies any wrongdoing. But an investigation is under way to determine the exact causes of the spill and on Monday MAL's managing director Zoltan Bakonyi was taken into custody for questioning.

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, at a meeting with the Hungarian prime minister in Pecs in the southwest of country, extended the EU's condolences to the victims and their families and the country as a whole.

"I would like to express my sympathy with the Hungarian nation over the recent red sludge spill," he told a joint news conference.

The EU has already dispatched five experts to help Hungary deal with the sludge, but Barroso promised a sixth would be sent soon.

The World Health Organisation also sent a team of experts to help evaluate health threats from the spill and determine the risk of contamination spreading to countries downstream along the river Danube.

"While serious short-term health effects are considered unlikely, potential medium- and long-term effects through contamination from heavy metals (for example entering the food chain) can only be assessed as more information becomes available," the UN health agency said in a statement.

Construction was meanwhile nearing completion of a second dam to prevent a second spill from occurring in case of anticipated heavy rain later this week.

"The new dyke is practically ready. We just need to reinforce it with stones, because it will have to hold for decades," the head of the regional disaster relief services, Tibor Dobson, said in a radio interview.

Around 800 villagers of Kolontar were evacuated last Saturday for fear of a second spill. They were informed Tuesday that they would probably be able to return to their homes on Friday at the earliest, Dobson said.

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News