China confirmed yesterday that an explosion at a petrochemical plant had caused "major pollution" of a river which has led authorities to shut off water supplies in one of its biggest cities for at least four days.
Residents of Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province, were jamming the airport and rail stations to get out, a witness said.
The State Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said that the Songhua River had suffered "major water pollution" after the Nov. 13 explosion at the chemical plant upstream.
"After the blast at the chemical plant the monitoring station in Jilin found that benzene went into the river and polluted the water," the EPA said in a statement on its Web site. "Benzene levels were 108 times above national safety levels."
The polluting material index had dropped to 29 times above national safety levels when the contaminants reached the border of Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces on Sunday, the EPA said.
The explosion happened in Jilin Province only a few hundred meters from the Songhua River, which supplies water to Harbin, a metropolitan area of 9 million people. Five people were killed in the blast.
"Pollution is definite," said a regional water official, who declined to give his name. "It has entered the Songhua River and has affected the banks and lower reaches."
The Beijing Times newspaper said the pollutants in the partly frozen river included benzene, an industrial solvent and component of gasoline.
Benzene is a carcinogen that can be lethal if someone is exposed to high levels, even in short doses, according to the US National Library of Medicine's Web site.
The EPA admitted that the chemical slick could be extremely dangerous to people who came into contact with it.
An environmental official quoted by Xinhua said the polluted water was expected to reach the stretch of river where Harbin siphons off its drinking water last night and clear the city by tomorrow afternoon.
Taps were turned off in Harbin at midnight on Tuesday after two days of panic buying of bottled water and food in a city where winter temperatures regularly drop below minus 20?C.
One factory manager said: "Everyone wants to leave Harbin and it is very difficult to buy tickets, just like during the Lunar New Year holiday."
"All containers are being used to store water, including the bathtub. It will be okay for four days, but not longer than that," the manager said.
Fifteen hospitals were on standby to take in contamination victims, Xinhua said.
A notice on the city government Web site saying supplies would resume in four days has been superseded by another saying a resumption date would be announced later.
"The new notice does not necessarily mean an extension," a Harbin government spokesman said.
"But we will make a decision after four days according to the water quality at that time," he said.
Meanwhile, Russian government officials in the east of their country said yesterday they were monitoring the Amur river, of which the Songhua is a tributary, for toxic substances.
The officials said the Songhua (called Sungari in Russia) was the main source of drinking water for Khabarovsk, home to 600,000 residents, just across the Chinese border about 600km from Harbin.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
BACK TO WORK? Prosecutors said they are considering filing an appeal, while the Hsinchu City Government said it has applied for Ann Kao’s reinstatement as mayor The High Court yesterday found suspended Hsinchu mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) not guilty of embezzling assistant fees, reducing her sentence to six months in prison commutable to a fine from seven years and four months. The verdict acquitted Kao of the corruption charge, but found her guilty of causing a public official to commit document forgery. The High Prosecutors’ Office said it is reviewing the ruling and considering whether to file an appeal. The Taipei District Court in July last year sentenced Kao to seven years and four months in prison, along with a four-year deprivation of civil rights, for contravening the Anti-Corruption
RSS