2000 Baia Mare cyanide spill

The polluted waters eventually reached the Tisza River and then the Danube, killing large numbers of fish in Hungary, Serbia, and Romania.

[4] Two years after the spill, the ecosystem began to recover, but it was still far from its pre-contamination state; the fishermen of Hungary claimed that their catches in 2002 were only at a fifth of the levels in 1999.

[3] A dyke burst in Băile Borșa, Maramureș County and 20,000 cubic metres of zinc, lead and copper-contaminated water made its way into the Tisza.

[5] Brett Montgomery, the chairman of the mine operator, Esmeralda, denied responsibility, claiming that the damage of the spill has been "grossly exaggerated" and that the fish died in such numbers because of lack of oxygen due to the freezing of the river.

[1] A spokesman for the company later claimed that media reports from Hungary and Serbia are politically motivated and the fish were killed by spills from industrial plants along the Tisza, due to the dynamite explosions used to break the ice locks on the river or simply due to the raw sewage pumped into the river.

[6] German metal band Rammstein produced a song about the spill, called "Donaukinder" (Children of the Danube).