N China polluted river clean up

A chemical leak discovered on December 31st at a factory in North China's Shanxi Province contaminated a river with 8.7 of aniline. Another 30 tons were contained in a disused reservior.

Hu Chao, Changzhi, Shanxi Province, said," This is the drainage ditch of the factory where the 38.7 tons of aniline flowed by. There is still a smell of chemical here. As you can see, the contaminated water has been frozen. And the cleaning up is obviously no easy task."

"Aniline is a corrosive chemical, so we have to protect ourselves well during clean up!"

The leak occurred at the factory of the Tianji Chemical Group. Workers from the company, local soldiers and armed policemen have been cleaning the drainage ditch, in case livestock drink from it and to prevent the contamination from spreading.

Li Zhiping, commander of Changzhi PLA Sub-area, Shanxi, said," The workers of the plant have cleaned up some parts. We've sent 500 soldiers and 300 militiamen to join the clean up. We'll finish the task within two days as fast as possible."

Employee of Tianji Chemical Group, said,"These ice blocks will be taken to the plant's sewage treatment pool. And they will be treated together there."

The emergency response headquarters says after they finish cleaning the river channel, they will clean the soil there.