Villagers return home after spill

Budapest: Production has restarted at the metals plant whose broken reservoir unleashed a massive flood of caustic red sludge, even as villagers began returning to one of the affected towns in western Hungary despite warnings from environmentalists that it was too early and too dangerous to return.

Some 800 Kolontar residents were evacuated last Saturday after authorities said a wall of the factory reservoir could collapse further, releasing a second wave of red sludge after a calamitous break on October 4 created a deadly torrent.

Nine people died in the toxic flood and around 50 are still hospitalised, several in serious condition.

On Friday, about 30 people were driven to Kolontar in buses from a sports arena in the nearby town of Ajka, where they had been staying.

"Others are returning in their own vehicles from the homes of friends and relatives in the area," disaster agency spokeswoman Gyorgyi Tottos said.

The plant at the centre of the catastrophe, the Ajkai Timfoldgyar metals plant belonging to MAL Rt., or the Hungarian Aluminum Production and Trade, restarted operations late on Friday.

"As a result of preparatory tasks, the restart of the technological processes at the plant has begun," said Timea Petroczi, a spokeswoman for Gyorgy Bakondi, a former head of the national disaster agency who was appointed by the government to take temporary control of MAL Rt.

"It will take a maximum of four days to reach normal operations. Full capacity will be reached next Tuesday."

Bakondi and an 18-member committee now have a decisive say in all aspects of the company and were talking with managers about how best to ramp up operations at the plant, which employs 1,100 people.