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Two villages were affected by the toxic sludge spill when a dyke burst and 1 million cubic meters of toxic red mud poured out of the storage pond of an alumina plant in Western Hungary on 4 October 2010. 10 people were killed and 150 severely injured in the catastrophe. The sludge, which is a highly toxic by-product of alumina production, has destroyed the ecosystem of two streams and contaminated the Danube, Europe's second-longest river. It has left a trail of devastation over 40 square kilometers. Nothing like this has ever happened in this business before. Two villages have been evacuated and many houses have had to be knocked down. In most countries red sludge is stored in reservoirs similar to that which burst in Hungary – this may be a huge risk to the lives of thousands of people. The affected area has been closed by Hungary’s Ministry of the Interior. The photos were taken a month after the catastrophe - just days before the houses were knocked down.

Marks of the two-meter-high torrent of red mud on a house in the village of Kolontar.