The level of toxicity from an industrial waste spill in western Hungary is higher than previously believed, an environmental group warned Friday, as the disaster claimed three more victims, bringing the total number of dead to seven. Greenpeace experts in Vienna, in neighbouring Austria, said analysis of the sludge showed dangerously high levels of arsenic and mercury that posed a long-term risk to the ecosystem and drinkable water in the area around the town of Kolontar, according to dpa. The experts charged that the Hungarian government, which had access to the analysis a day after the accident, had concealed the toxicity of the mud, which reached the Danube river on Thursday. "We find it quite strange, to put it mildly, that the Hungarian government and the responsible authorities didn't publicly announce the real amounts of toxic substances," Herwig Schuster, a chemistry expert for Greenpeace, told reporters in Vienna. Meanwhile, three additional deaths from the spill were confirmed. An 81-year-old patient with chemical burns to 70 per cent of his body died in hospital, while rescuers found the bodies of two more people. Another person was still missing. A local Hungarian environmental office said the effluent, from a chemical processing plant, has virtually dissipated since flowing into the Danube river. It said the alkaline level of the river was normal. Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the situation was under control.
