Red-faced engineers have confessed to dumping 3,000 tonnes of rock contaminated with poisonous arsenic into one of the world’s greatest beauty spots.
The rock, from a new tube train tunnel being dug in Gotthard, Switzerland, ended up at the bottom of the crystal-clear waters of Lake Lucerne, in the part called Lake of Uri which sits at the mouth of the Reuss valley, following a mix up over toxicity tests.
After drilling out the rock, engineers discovered it was contaminated with arsenic and other heavy metals.
In high concentrations or through long exposure, arsenic is known to cause cancer and circulation complications in some victims.

But, they have admitted, before they could tell their disposal contactors all 30,000 tonnes had been dumped in the Alpine lake.
Federal Roads Office spokesperson Thomas Rohrbach admitted: “The arsenic content is above the safety limit.”
Project manager Roland Senn explained: “We had not anticipated the rock would come out with a high arsenic load.
“By the time we had the test results, the rock was already in the lake.”
He added: “As soon as we determined the arsenic material, we immediately stopped dumping it.”
But he admitted: “In hindsight, it would have been better to wait for the results of the chemical analyses before the material has landed in the lake.”
The bungled operation was criticised by expert Adrian Pfiffner, Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Geology Bern University.
He said: “For me it is clear. Before you sink rock in a lake and if you are measuring arsenic values, you would at least have had to wait until you have the result before you sink the rock.”
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