About 100 tonnes of benzene and nitorbenzene were released into the Songhua River, which provides much of the drinking water to urban communities in northeast China, after a blast at a PetroChina chemical plant upstream on November 13.

Officials have turned off the public water system in Jiamusi, home to 550,000 urban residents, in Heilongjiang province, repeating the action taken for the much larger provincial capital of Harbin last month.

The State Council formed the investigation team on Tuesday, China Central Television (CCTV) station said, to probe the explosion which killed eight people, three more than previously reported. Another person was seriously injured and 59 others were slightly wounded.

The blast was caused by an equipment operator who made procedural mistakes that triggered persistent high rises in temperature and pressure causing a fire and explosion, CCTV said.

As of Monday night, the toxic levels of the chemical slick remained up to 14 times above national safety levels, state Xinhua news agency said, citing the Heilongjiang provincial environment protection department.

However the slick is travelling slower along the Songhua river than initially forecast because the waterway is frozen.

There are fears of long-term environmental consequences, with concerns the chemicals will get locked into the ice and seep into the river bed and banks.

An idea of the costs became apparent Tuesday when China's State Developmental Bank issued 640 million yuan (79 million dollars) in emergency and short-term loans to the Harbin government to help pay for the clean-up efforts.

According to the government-run Dongbei information website, the funds are earmarked for ensuring clean water supplies to Harbin's urban areas and for smaller towns along the Songhua river near the city.

The explosion alone appeared to have caused 46 million yuan (5.6 million dollars) in economic losses, CCTV said.

The disaster has prompted the resignation of China's environmental minister, while the top official of the PetroChina chemical plant, a subsidiary of the huge state-run behemoth China National Petroleum Corporation, was fired.

The toxic slick will eventually enter neighbouring Russia, and China again expressed its concern on Tuesday for the people living over the border.

"China is very concerned over what this environmental disaster can bring to our Russian neighbors," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told journalists.

"We have taken a series of measures to greatly reduce the influence that this will have on our neighbors in the Russian Far East."

Chinese authorities are filing daily reports to the Russian side about the situation in the Songhua river and have offered them clean up supplies and water monitoring equipment, he said.

Qin said Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao sent a letter to his Russian counterpart apologizing for the spill, reassuring Russia that China was adopting a "responsible attitude."

As of late Monday, the slick was still 225 kilometers (135 miles) from Sanjiangkou, where the Songhua meets the Amur, the border river dividing Russia and China.

Related Links
SpaceDaily
Search SpaceDaily
Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express