Hungarian disaster officials say an alumina plant behind a toxic sludge spill last week that ravaged local villages and rivers will reopen on Friday, as the death toll from the disaster climbed to nine late Wednesday.

The Hungarian government has since taken control of the plant for a period of two years, appointing Gyorgy Bakondi to head the plant and announcing it would resume operations.

"We have already switched on the industrial heating [at the plant]," Bakondi told a press conference with Sandor Pinter, Hungary's interior minister.