Austrian authorities baffled: Hungary failed to inform them about buried FMD-infected cattle near the border

Pereszteg is just 6 kilometres from the Austrian-Hungarian border, and the Hungarian authorities did not inform their Austrian colleagues that they would bury culled cattle in a former sand mine close to the border. Now, the Austrian authorities are conducting permanent inspections concerning the potentially infected groundwater. Meanwhile, the Hungarian authorities assured them that the flow direction vectors pointed to Hungary instead of Austria.

Hungarian authorities failed to inform Austria about infected cattle buried

According to mfor.hu, the Hungarian authorities forgot to inform their Austrian colleagues that they would bury FMD-infected cattle in a former sand mine close to the border, near the village of Pereszteg. What’s more, the local mayor was also informed only after the carcasses were already in the ground. Based on a report of the Austrian Vol.at, the Burgenland State Office said there was no direct threat to the groundwater in Austria.

Even the Austrian military was mobilised in the last few days to prevent the infectious disease from entering the country. We wrote about that decision in THIS article.

Keeping Austria FMD-free is a top priority of the local authorities, so the state office conducts regular groundwater inspections. The Social Democrat Heinrich Dorner, a local councillor, said they would like to use all opportunities to keep the situation under control, conduct permanent inspections, and employ cross-border cooperation. Moreover, he criticised the Hungarian authorities’ information-sharing practice.

Professional discussions, permanent evaluation of the situation

The Hungarian colleagues told them that they buried the carcasses in a former sand mine where the soil is clayey, while its structure is dense. Furthermore, they pointed out that the flow direction of the groundwater is Northwest-Southeast. Thus, no water will get through Austria from there. In the next few days, the two parties will conduct professional discussions since Pereszteg is only 6 kilometres from the border.

The culling of the infected cattle identified in Rábapordány started on Friday; the carcasses were transported to Pereszteg. The state-owned ATEV plant there has been used as a burial site for that purpose before. However, the authorities failed to inform even the local mayor about the decision.

As we wrote before, Austria closed 21 border crossings with Hungary to baulk the spread of the deadly disease at the Austrian-Hungarian border. You may enter Austria at the larger border crossings only after proper disinfection. Burgenland’s leadership continuously evaluates the effectiveness of the measures and, if needed, is prepared to modify them.

Locals outraged

According to the Hungarian media, locals of Pereszteg were outraged that the operative body selected their settlement as the burial site of the thousands of cattle carcasses. Mihály Sellei, the village’s mayor, told the angry locals on a forum that he had nothing to do with the decision and had no other rights but to help the operative body execute it. Some locals said he should resign instead of saying such sentences.

People living in the village started to protest against the decision by blocking roads, but the execution happened nevertheless. A local councillor of the Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party, Csaba Holpár, said in a video that Pereszteg will be the burial place of any other cattle identified as carriers of the FMD disease.

Read also:

• Urgent alert! Restrictions implemented on another long Schengen border in Hungary
• New foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Hungary: thousands of cattle to be culled by tonight – read more HERE