This presentation aims at providing an informative fact-based description of the complex reasons resulting in dam ruptures. The investigations focus on the tragic damage of red mud reservoir No. 10 in Ajka and restrict itself to the engineering aspects of the damage. The analysis of the direct and indirect reasons for the tragic incident may serve as a lesson to our engineers and specialists as well as provide guidelines and revelations with the intention of improvement while emphasizing the necessity of deeper comprehension. Neither this presentation nor the engineering analyses aimed at the search for scapegoats behind the failures
