Cause clarified

Danube captain faces charges after faecal spill

At the landing stage at Lentos, "brown sludge" was filmed leaking from a ship into the Danube - it was faeces(Bild: Harald Dostal / 2023)

Did those responsible simply want to sit out the leakage of faeces into the Danube and hope that nobody would notice? That certainly seems likely after investigations revealed that people on board the ship in Linz had noticed the problem at the sewage treatment plant. Charges are now imminent.

The Ministry of the Environment in Vienna has even looked into the case and has now announced that the investigations were successful: "The shipping inspectorate has carried out a technical inspection of the ship and interviewed the personnel. A technical defect in the ship's sewage treatment plant was identified as the cause of the discharge." The ship operator wants to take technical measures to prevent further incidents.

Public prosecutor's office informed
However, because there was no immediate reaction on board the ship moored at Lentos and the defect in the wastewater treatment plant and the consequences - wastewater with faeces flowed untreated into the Danube - were reported to the authorities, charges are being prepared for breach of the reporting obligation. The public prosecutor's office has also been informed and must decide on possible charges of environmental pollution.