Hungary: Toxic spill factory chief executive arrested
There are fears of a second rupture of the alumina plant's reservoir
The chief executive of the industrial plant at the centre of the toxic sludge spill in Hungary has been taken in for questioning by police.
The arrest of Zoltan Bakonyi was announced by the PM Viktor Orban.
Mr Orban also said the company would be temporarily nationalised and that those responsible for the disaster should bear the financial consequences.
Eight people have so far died from the 4 October spill near Ajka in the west of the country.
About 150 people were also injured after up to 700,000 cubic metres (24.7m cu ft) of toxic by-product from the production of alumina burst from a storage reservoir.
The residue has covered an area of 40 sq km (15.6 sq miles) and the contamination has spread into the region's waterways.
EU help
Engineers and disaster relief workers, aided by volunteers, have been racing to finish an emergency dam to contain an expected second spill from the reservoir.
AdvertisementThe BBC's Duncan Kennedy on the construction of the emergency dam
EU experts are helping the Hungarians with the emergency dam, as well as assessing the longer-term impact of the spill on the ground water and the soil.
They are also examining the potential airborne health hazard posed by the mud drying out.
Speaking to parliament, Prime Minister Orban blamed "human negligence" for the spill.
"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," he 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 would be no trouble," he added.
Mr Bakonyi said last week that the reservoir had been inspected daily and no signs of weakness had been spotted. The prime minister said that to preserve the jobs of the alumina plant's workers, the company owning it - MAL Hungarian Aluminium - would be brought under state control until those affected had been compensated and the damage cleaned up.
Environment State Secretary Zoltan Illes said the company could face damage claims amounting to 73m euros ($102m; £64m). "We still don't know for now whether the company overloaded the reservoirs or not," he told journalists in Ajka.
"But if that is the case, it's illegal storage of waste and that constitutes a crime."
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