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Romania refuses to pay Yugoslavia and Hungary for the damage done by the outlet of production wastes containing cyanides.

Moreover, it claims that it is in the right to ask for repayment of damage done to the environment of the country because it has suffered the most, reports Interfax with reference to the Ministry of Ecology of Romania. The Ministry experts say that the cyanides in the Tisa river will cause poisoning of the food chain for many years. The greatest danger, however, will be caused by the grand amount of heavy metal nitrites wasted along with the cyanides.

At the same time the English gold mining company Esmeralda Exploration, owner of half of the Romanian deposit where 100 thousand cubic meters of the "dead water" were wasted, also declared that it does want to be held responsible for the accident. The company is even planning to send to Romania a group of their specialists so that they would find proofs of Esmeralda being not guilty, reports RIA "Novosti".

Meanwhile, the cyanide contaminated spot is spreading (primarily by NaCN nitrites) over the hydrosystem of the Danube.

Starting Wednesday Bulgaria is imposing a ban on fishing in the Danube. The contaminated water may reach Bulgarian coasts on Wednesday or Thursday. This will be a blow for many families who live by the river for with the current unemployment level fishing is virtually the only means of earning a living for most families.

Already since Tuesday in Pleven region, which occupies almost a quater of Bulgarian coast of the Danube, the authorities imposed a ban on selling fish without a quality certificate and sanitary services permission. However, less and less fish is being sold on the markets of Pleven and other cities for fear of poisoning.

Concerns are being expressed by Ukraine ecologists. According the their estimation, the "dead water" billow will reach the Odessa region and there is no way of telling as to what degree the cyanides will dissipate by that time. Of special concern to Ukraine ecologists are water supplies to the Danube areas of the region, reports the Italian news agency ANSA.

Moldavia is hoping that the ecological disaster on Tisa and Danube will not touch upon its water resources. The distance between Tisa and Upper Prut is too great and the cyanides will not penetrate to Moldavian waterways, said Ion Apostol, head of a division of the Department of Citizen Protection and Emergency Situations of Moldavia. He does not deny, however, that the fish that has survived but is contaminated with cyanide might get into Prut and Dnestr.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday concentration of NaCN in Tisa was two milligrammes per litre (the maximum allowed is 0.01 milligramm) in the middle flow and 1.31 milligrammes at the confluence with the Danube. In the Danube it is 0.2 milligramme per litre. The Minister of Ecology of Yugoslavia Bronislav Blazhevic expressed dissatisfaction with the inadequate reaction of European countries and made an assault on the transnational company Esmeralda. "Such companies, - ANSA reports Blazhevic's words (he is a member of an ultranational party of Boclav Sesel), - come to use us and leave us with their poison".

Source: Gazeta.ru