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Over 7,000 barrels intercepted on NE China river

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-08-01 20:21

CHANGCHUN - Workers have recovered 6,387 chemical barrels and located 684 others stuck on flood-ravaged land along a major river in Northeast China by Sunday night, four days after floods swept them into the waterway, local officials said.

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The barrels were all intercepted within the borders of Jilin province and water quality tests show that the Songhua River, a major drinking source for millions in the region, is not contaminated, said officials with the Jilin provincial government.

A total of 3,662 barrels filled with colorless and highly explosive chemicals -- mainly trimethyl chloro silicane and hexamethyl disilazane -- and 3,476 empty ones were swept into Wende River after floods destroyed the warehouses of two chemical plants in Jilin city, Jilin province on Wednesday. Torrents then carried the barrels into the Songhua River, raising fears of water contamination.

The barrels were intercepted after more than 12,000 soldiers, armed police, emergency workers and local residents in Jilin fanned out along the Songhua River's 235 kilometers waterways to collect the barrels around the clock, officials said.