“We don’t know what happened. This is the first time I've seen this: the slurry pit has spread into the Le Manderen stream. Several hundred m3 went into the water. Even today, we ask ourselves the question of how this is possible,” underlines Régis Dorbach, mayor of Manderen-Ritzing and retired farmer. “It could have been worse… The cameras show that my grandson passed by that place, with his tractor, at 5:27 p.m. At 5:34 p.m., the concrete pit, which dates from twenty years ago, gave way. He was lucky he wasn't there at the time. »
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All evening on site
Tuesday January 14, around 5:30 p.m., the slurry pit at the Moulin farm suddenly burst open for a reason still unknown. A dozen firefighters, from the municipal emergency center but also from Sierck-les-Bains, Bouzonville, Yutz and Hayange, were dispatched to the scene. After carrying out a reconnaissance of the location and the quantity of material spilled, the emergency services set up a filter barrier to prevent the product from flowing too much into the watercourse. A nocturnal intervention made delicate by the importance of the flow in the stream and the configuration of the terrain, sloping and slippery. “At 11 p.m., the emergency services broke camp. With the floods last May, there are still quite a few branches and tree trunks which slowed down the progression of the slurry in the water. Experts will come but in the meantime we are looking for solutions for the 80 cows. »
“No risk for humans”
“As there is a lot of flow, the water has become clear again,” comments the mayor. It's not drinking water, there is no risk for humans, just for fish. It's an accident and no one can do anything about it. The gendarmes from the Rettel brigade went to the site to carry out the findings. It smelled during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday in Kitzing and Apach but this Wednesday, it's over. » Wednesday morning, the emergency services returned to the site to carry out reconnaissance, in particular around the filter dam placed by the emergency services in Apach, approximately 110 m from the Moselle to act as a buffer. For his part, the farmer had placed bales of straw on the banks of his farm to absorb as much slurry as possible. As for the Luxembourg and Belgian authorities, they were informed of the incident as required by procedure.
