As many as 380 soldiers of the HDF, 126 military vehicles including army trucks, buses and three passenger helicopters have helped evacuate the inhabitants of Kolontár.

Since the wall of the reservoir had weakened the defence committee decided to evacuate Kolontár at dawn on Saturday.

 Later that day the residents of the nearby town Devecser were also ordered to be ready to evacuate. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Minister of Defence Csaba Hende, national police chief József Hatala and head of the National Disaster Unit György Bokondi arrived at the scene of the catastrophe. Engineers were building a protective wall of four-five meters around the weakened dam of the burst reservoir to prevent Kolontár from a new toxic sludge spill. Since the wall was showing several cracks evacuation was inevitable. The villagers were taken to the nearby town of Ajka by buses and trucks of the HDF.

 The troops of HDF Support Brigade, HDF 64th ’József Boconádi Szabó’ Logistics Regiment, HDF 43rd Signal and Command and Control Support Regiment, HDF 54th Veszprém Air Surveillance Regiment, HDF 86th Szolnok Helicopter Base, HDF Pápa Base Airport, HDF 25th ’György Klapka’ Infantry Brigade, HDF 12th Arrabona Anti Aircraft Missile Regiment, HDF Bakony Combat Training Centre and HDF 93rd ’Sándor Petőfi’ NBC Battalion assisted in the evacuation of the inhabitants of Kolontár. In case of another breach the troops of the HDF are ready to evacuate the nearby town Devecser, as well.

Text Dóra Darnyik