60 Tons Of Coal Tar Spilled In Chinese Waters
Shaveta Bansal - All Headline News Contributor Beijing, China (AHN) - Chinese authorities are trying hard to slow down the flow of a toxic spill that resulted after a truck carrying 60 tons of coal tar crashed Monday and dumped its contents into the Dasha river. The AP reports, authorities have built 51 makeshift dams and deployed dozens of trucks in an effort to slow the spread of the cancer causing coal tar from reaching the Wangkuai Reservoir of Baoding, that serves a city of about 10 million people. The analysis of the water samples has shown that levels of phenol, also known as carbolic acid, were 100 times greater than acceptable levels in some spots. Liu Qing, a villager who lives along the Dasha in Fuping, described seeing dozens of dead fish floating in water, though she said the water was not discolored and did not have any unusual odor. According to Xinhua news agency, the cleaning crews on Friday scrambled to absorb the toxic substance from the river which is traveling at nearly 1 mile per hour downstream toward Baoding. With the help of a dozen fire engines polluted water is being pumped out into a "closed environment" where it could be treated. The Baoding reservoir is about 45 miles from the site of the accident. Xinhua says, in a separate incident Thursday, a series of explosions rocked the Longxin Chemical Plant in the city of Longquan, Zhejiang province, destroying two factories and threatenin |
