A tremendous flood of corrosive mud broke loose through the cleft wall of the Ajka slurry pond on 04 October, rushing across the streets of the neighbouring village, dragging and shoving everything like debris in its path.

One million cubic meters of red sludge engulfed the unsuspecting countryside, first the village of Kolontár. The caustic substance raced through the tiny place with a speed of 30 km per hour, taking men and cattle in its tide, carrying away everything caught in its waves, plants, buildings, and vehicles.

The Pannon Newspapers Group (Pannon Lapok Társasága, PLT,) has reported on the disaster from the very beginning. Our colleagues, reporting from the scene, have made every effort to cover in detail the events taking place.

In the present digialised volume, with the assistance of our colleagues, we have made an attempt to provide a summary of the events related to the sludge disaster…