DEVECSER, Hungary – Authorities say cracks in the walls of a broken reservoir that released a deluge of toxic red sludge on several towns have not grown any wider, and a mayor says he hopes a state of alert can be called off.
The National Disaster Management Directorate also said Wednesday that the death toll in western Hungary had risen to nine after an elderly man died overnight. Around 50 people are still hospitalized.
Devecser Mayor Tamas Toldi says he hopes the state of alert can be called off once a protective wall in neighboring Kolontar is completed.
Some 700,000 cubic meters (184 million gallons) of caustic sludge and water burst from a storage pool of a metals plant.
Authorities fear that if the cracks widen and the wall falls, it could release another flood.
