Authorities in Romania have launched cleanup operations in a tributary of the Danube River after heavy rains filled it with trash.
Torrential rains at the end of March washed tons of household waste into the Cerna River, which has washed the detritus to a confluence with the Danube.
Photographs and videos show a section of the river covered with floating items of rubbish, such as plastic bottles and bags.
The waste has accumulated near the western city of Orșova, where authorities are trying to intervene before it reaches the Danube, Radio Romania reported. Water management authorities have installed a floating dam to stem the waste’s spread downstream.
This is not the first time Romanian rivers have been inundated with trash. In 2021, Bucharest promised the Hungarian government it would clean up its act after the Tisza River’s tributaries were similarly affected.
The previous July, Hungary’s then president, János Áder, asked the Romanian and Ukrainian heads of state to keep their rivers clean due to the impact on fishing, tourism and wildlife. He had earlier written to the European Commission complaining that the problem arises annually.
