Hungary's toxic mud spill, which has killed four people, has reached the Danube river.
The spill is threatening to contaminate the waterway's entire ecosystem.
‘The red mud pollution has reached the Danube - its so-called Mosoni Branch, about 10km from the main branch of the river - this morning,’ said Tibor Dobson, the local head of the disaster relief services.
Water authority official Jozsef Toth earlier said that samples taken at the confluence of the Raba river and the Danube showed ‘alkalinity slightly above normal, with a pH value of 8.96-9.07,’ against a normal tally of 8.0.
On a scale of 1-14, pH values of 1-6 are acid, between 6 and 8 are neutral, and readings of 8-14 are alkaline.
Three adults and one child have already been killed and 123 injured, while three people are still missing.
Special checkpoints were created at five bridges along the Marcal river to place a special neutralising agent into the water, which has led to a drop in alkaline levels.
