Toxic mud flood in Hungary!!! new pictures

"(CNN) -- Four people, including two children, were killed after a reservoir broke and flooded three villages in western Hungary with toxic red mud, officials said Tuesday.

The government has declared a state of emergency in three counties, the State Secretariat of Governmental Communications said.

The National Catastrophe Protection Directorate (OKF) said the two children who died were 1 and 3 years old. A 35-year-old man was killed in his car, and a woman was killed in her home, the government said.

Rescue workers are looking for seven people who are missing. They have treated at least 116 casualties, including eight people who were seriously injured. Most have been airlifted by helicopter to hospitals in the capital, Budapest.

The reservoir burst in the town of Kolontar on Monday afternoon, the government said Tuesday.

At least a million cubic meters of red mud have spilled so far, the government said, affecting the villages of Kolontar, Devecser and Somlovasarhely.

The toxic sludge -- a waste product from aluminum production -- could potentially endanger two major rivers, the Danube and the Raba, the government said. It has already reached the river Marcal.

The Environment and Water Management Center has experts working on preventing the sludge from affecting the Danube and Raba, it said."

Information is still scarce on this topic, mostly gossips and very few official newscast, there was even a panic about false news of another breach. People ran to the highest points of the towns, some have fainted. The locals are terrified, no one knows if they can ever go back to pack their personal belongings.

There are more reservoirs in the region, all are part of the aluminum industry in Ajka. The mud is red sludge, a toxic side product of alumina production. If the sludge touches the skin it makes immediate toxic burns due to its high pH level.

More information and pictures will come so stay tuned

The route of the flood. Note that the flood loosely followed the small stream but still flooded all of Kolontár (smaller town, lower center) and Devecser (upper left)

Edit: Red sludge may contain small amount of radioactive material. The OKF workers scanned the affected area but so far found no sign of radioactivity.

Edit 2: Aerial shots from the flooded area

The sludge reservoir. The breach is at the far corner.

The breach itself. Note the remaining sludge, it only takes a little rain to get it loose.

The way of the flood. Yes, it was an agricultural area.

The flooded town of Devecser. Toxic waste all over everything.

The flood destroyed bridges, raillines, houses, cars... and devastated lots of lives. The white stuff is gypsum (plaster), workers are trying to counter the alkaline mud, but reports say it only lowers pH levels from 13 to 11. Still deadly.

There was a house here. All the red stuff you see is highly toxic, causes immediate serious chemical burns.