Workers from an environmental protection team have accidentally caused an environmental disaster – releasing millions of litres of toxic wastewater into a river in Colorado.<br /><br /> The spill has turned the Animas River into a mustard-coloured pollution zone with the contaminated leak said to contain heavy metals like arsenic, mercury and lead, <br /><br /> Three times bigger than initially thought, the leak has spread beyond Colorado’s borders, notably into neighbouring New Mexico.<br /><br /> It started when workers from the US Environmental Protection Agency were cleaning up an abandoned mine and inadvertently unleashed a flow of the orange-tinged slurry.<br /><br /> There are reports of residents weeping as the once crystal-clear Animas River was closed down in an emergency measure.<br /><br /> The long-term environmental effects of the spill remain unclear.
