Spain Says It Will Take Legal Action in Spill

HUEVAR, Spain —  Volunteers hauled away tons of dead fish Thursday from waters poisoned by an ecological disaster in southern Spain, and the government vowed to pursue legal action against the company it holds responsible.

Flocks of herons and egrets feasting on the contaminated corpses of fish, frogs and eels have raised fears that the devastation caused by a major toxic spill at a mine last weekend is now spreading through the region’s food chain.

“The problem now is that the birds are starting to eat the dead fish,” Greenpeace spokesman Ricardo Aguilar said. “So we have to urgently help get rid of the animals which have been killed by the toxins.”

Hundreds of workers in protective masks fanned out along the riverbanks and marshlands at the edge of Donana National Park, Europe’s largest nature reserve, to help with the massive cleanup.

Park officials estimated that 12 tons of dead fish had already been cleared away and that many more remained. Experts say it could take decades for the ecosystem to recover from the poisonous residue from lead, zinc and silver mining that spilled from a mine reservoir.

Environment Minister Isabel Tocino called it a “catastrophe” and promised to take the mine’s owners, Canadian-Swedish conglomerate Boliden Ltd., to court for contaminating the environment.

Boliden President Anders Bulow said Wednesday that the company had adequate insurance to guarantee its survival against any legal claims, but said it would be up to Spanish courts to decide liability.

The crisis began Saturday when a reservoir at the Los Frailes mine, west of Seville, burst its banks, sending about 6.5 million cubic yards of sludge cascading into the Guadiamar River.

Hastily built dikes saved Donana, diverting the contaminated flow to the larger Guadalquivir River and toward the Gulf of Cadiz. But the toxic waste cut a 20-mile path of destruction outside the park, damaging crops and killing wildlife.