SEVILLE, Spain Workers armed with shovels and bulldozers launched a massive clean-up on Sunday in the aftermath of a toxic waste spill that has created one of Spain's worst ecological disasters. Crews began hauling away the first truck-loads of seven million tons of acidic mud left on the banks of the Guadiamar River after a mine reservoir ruptured on April 25, sending a torrent of toxic material flowing downstream.

Environment Minister Isabel Tocino, who has called the spill an ecological catastrophe of historic proportions, stood by as the recovery effort got under way near the riverside town of Sanlucar la Mayor, state radio said. The owner of the mine, Canadian-Swedish conglomerate Boliden Ltd, has agreed to pay for the clean-up and guarantee farmers reimbursement for millions of dollars worth of crops poisoned by the toxic flow.

The company has provided 500 workers from its Los Frailes mine, idled since the toxic spill on April 25, to help remove the mud and deposit it in an abandoned section of the open-pit mine site at Aznalcollar, west of Seville. But some environmentalists have called the recovery plan ill conceived and question whether Boliden can manage such a complex operation.

(Reuter)