Cyanide spill leads to severe economic loss - study
Date: 21-May-01
Country: HUNGARY
The Tisza River was the scene of one of the worst pollution incidents in Europe after 100,000 cubic metres of cyanide-tainted water overflowed a dam in Romania, killing fish and wildlife downstream to the Danube.
A study funded by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) showed on Friday that, in addition to billions of forints in damage to fish, flora and fauna in the region, the economy depending on the Tisza also sustained huge losses.
"Companies affected by the cyanide should receive some type of aid from the Hungarian government," said Matyas Prommer, who headed the study from August 2000 through January.
The study, carried out by Budapest-based Centre for Environmental Studies (CES), noted restaurants and hotels along the Tisza were forced to take out loans after the cyanide spill to stay in business.
They lost between 1.3 billion and 2.4 billion forints due to the spill, it said. Only 1,500 tourists visited the region last year, compared to a normal average of 18,000 to 20,000.
The upper stretch of the river - where the cyanide first flowed from Romania - saw tourism decline an average 90 percent while the lower part saw an 80 percent drop.
Fisheries along the Tisza also experienced 1.8 billion forints in losses while another 300 million was spent on immediate action following the spill, such as disposal of millions of dead fish. In April the Hungarian government filed a 29 billion forint lawsuit against the company responsible for the cyanide spill.
