Devecer, Hungary (CNN) -- Workers in Hungary were racing Tuesday to build three emergency dams to stem an expected second toxic spill from an aluminum plant.
Some 500,000 cubic meters of toxic red sludge is in the plant's reservoir, whose wall shows signs of ruptures and cracks, said Gyorgi Tottos, a spokeswoman with Hungary's emergency services department.
Officials say it's only a matter of time before the wall breaks and spews the sludge across the landscape, she said.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso was in Hungary on Tuesday for a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The spill was one topic on their agenda and Barroso reiterated the European Union's promise of assistance and help, Barroso spokesman Cezary Lewanowicz told CNN.
The amount of sludge that remains in the reservoir is about half the amount that spilled out a week ago, inundating three villages, killing eight people, and leaving the landscape covered in red.
It wasn't clear when the emergency dams would be finished. Officials had said the dams would be finished by Tuesday morning, but later they pushed it back to Wednesday morning.
Crews were also trying to remove a layer of liquid from the top of the sludge in the reservoir in order to make the mud less mobile if the wall breaks.
CNN
