By Geoff Dyer in Harbin, Richard McGregor in Beijing and Neil Buckley in Moscow Published: November 24 2005 23:32 | Last updated: November 24 2005 23:32
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/517d0e64-5d3a-11da-8cde-0000779e2340.html
Two Chinese environmental experts warned on Thursday there was a risk of dangerous chemicals getting into the food chain in the north-eastern province of Heilongjiang because of the toxic slick in the Songhua River.
The warning came as authorities in Russia considered imposing a state of emergency today in the border city of Khabarovsk amid fears that it could be hit by the chemicals spill, caused 12 days ago by an explosion at a petrochemical plant.
On Thursday, the poisonous slick of benzene and other toxins reached the outskirts of Harbin, a large industrial city in the north-east, which draws drinking water from the river. Its 4m residents have had their water cut off for four days because of the pollution scare.
Gao Zhong, a water expert who runs the non-governmental organisation Clean Water, said the chemicals could be dangerous because the slick was moving very slowly along the river.
"If it stays there for a certain length of time, the land beside the river will absorb the chemicals and they could get into the food chain," said Mr Gao. "If the contamination was bad, it could take several years to eradicate the chemicals."
Cui Guangbo at Hehai University in Nanjing said the slow pace of the river – always low during the winter – was increasing the risks of considerable environmental damage.
According to the Xinhua news agency, the Chinese environmental administration said the riverbanks near the chemical plant, 200km from Harbin, contained 100 times more than the normal levels of chemicals such as benzene.
In Russia, Yuri Trutnev, Russia's environmental protection minister, said all steps would be taken to ensure there was no health risk to the residents of Khabarovsk. He called for more information from the Chinese. Khabarovsk, home to more than half a million, draws its drinking water from the Amur River, which flows from China to Russia. The Songhua is a tributary.
In Beijing, Zhang Lijun, the vice-minister of the State Environmental Protection Agency, said the slick would not reach Russia for 14 days and promised to keep the authorities there informed. Diary from Harbin Click here
He blamed the accident on PetroChina, China's largest energy company, which owns and operates the plant where the blast occurred. He declined to say whether it would be fined or its managers prosecuted.
PetroChina, in a statement on its website, apologised for the "inconvenience" caused by the spill.
The crisis in Harbin was discussed at a meeting of the State Council, China's cabinet, which had been called to discuss environmental policies. "The environmental situation is grim," Wen Jiabao, the premier, told the meeting, state media said.
This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm