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China Tackles Oil Spill

   Peter Simpson | Beijing 19 July 2010
   Fire  fighters try to contain the flames from a pipeline that exploded
   at  a  busy  Chinese port causing a massive fire in Dalian in northern
   China's Liaoning province, 17 July 2010

Photo: AP

   Fire  fighters try to contain the flames from a pipeline that exploded
   at  a  busy  Chinese port causing a massive fire in Dalian in northern
   China's Liaoning province, 17 July 2010

   Authorities  in China are battling to contain an oil slick covering 31
   square  kilometers,  after  two  crude  oil  pipelines exploded in the
   northeastern port, Dalian. There were no reported casualties but there
   are mounting fears of an ecological disaster.

   Efforts are under way to contain and clean up a large oil slick in the
   Yellow Sea in northeastern China, after a pipeline exploded.
   Friday's  explosion  at  a storage depot in the port of Dalian hit the
   oil pipeline as a tanker ship was unloading.
   The  first  explosion triggered a second blast from a smaller adjacent
   pipeline â sending more black oil into the ocean.
   Fears  of an ecological disaster are rising as the extent of the spill
   becomes known.
   Maritime  workers on a large flotilla of skimmer boats are working the
   spill, off the coast of Liaoning province.
   Chemical dispersants are being used and 7,000 meters of boom have been
   deployed to try and contain the spill.
   The deputy director of the Dalian Environmental Protection Department,
   Wu Guo Gong, is heading up the investigation into the explosion.
   Wu says there will be some environmental impact but he does not expect
   it to affect local residents.
   The blaze burned for 15 hours before being extinguished on Saturday by
   hundreds of firefighters.
   Fire  crews  continue  to  spray  foam  on  to  the oil containers and
   surrounding area destroyed in the blaze.

   The  incident  occurred  at  an  oil storage site jointly owned by the
   state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation and the port.

   Top   Chinese   officials   have   ordered  a  massive  clean  up  and
   investigation into the incident.

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