6 October 2010 Last updated at 15:47

In pictures: Hungary's toxic spill

Civil Protection Service workers clean streets covered in the toxic mud which spread across an area of 40 sq km (15.4 sq miles) in western Hungary after an aluminium plant reservoir burst its banks.

Two women walking past a house damaged by the red toxic sludge in the village of Kolontar, Hungary.

Some of the streets of Kolontar, about 160km (100 miles) southwest of Budapest, have been cleared enough for residents to be able to return and inspect their homes for damage.

The sludge destroyed all vegetation other than trees. It is a residue from aluminium production which is slightly radioactive and contains heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, and arsenic.

A man looking at the damage in his back yard caused by the toxic sludge, Kolontar, Hungary.

The government says it could take a year to clean and rebuild the villages that have been hit by what officials are calling Hungary's worst ever chemical accident.

A resident of Kolontar inspects the furniture in his home in Kolontar, covered in red mud.

The mud seeped into hundreds of houses and contaminated waterways. Hundreds of people have been evacuated.

Locals and emergency workers walking over a temporary bridge in Kolontar.

The army has had to build a temporary bridge in Kolontar to replace the one damaged by the flood. The EU fears the spill could turn into an ecological disaster for countries downriver from Hungary along the Danube.

A Hungarian soldier, wearing chemical protection gear, cleans a street flooded by toxic mud in the town of Devecser

Hungary has declared a state of emergency in three counties in the west of the country after a toxic mud spill left four people dead and about 120 injured.

The ruptured wall of the sludge reservoir of the Ajkai Timfoldgyar plant in Kolontar

The disaster was caused by the rupture of a reservoir at an alumina plant in Ajka, south-west of the capital Budapest.

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In pictures: Hungary's toxic spill

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