CHINA: Panicking citizens fled from Harbin, a city of nine million people in northeastern China, after officials there shut down the water supply yesterday following a chemical plant explosion which contaminated the city's drinking water.
Roads, train stations and airports were jammed in the rush to get out of the city, according to local residents.
Toxic chemicals leaked into the Songhua river after a massive explosion at a petro-chemical plant in Jilin city, about 380km upriver from Harbin, on November 13th.
The blast killed at least five people and resulted in the evacuation of thousands of others.
The 1,900km long Songhua river flows through Harbin and supplies water to the majority of its nine million residents. About three million people live in the centre of the city.
"After the explosion at the Jilin petro-chemical company under China National Petroleum Corporation, our observations showed pollutants containing benzene had flowed into the Songhua river and caused water pollution," China's State Environmental Protection Administration told the Xinhua news agency.
Benzene is a hazardous industrial solvent and a component of petrol.
Fifteen hospitals were on standby to take in contamination victims, Xinhua said, and the local authorities were arranging to import 16,000 tonnes of purified water from nearby cities and provinces.
On Tuesday, the government turned off the taps and said that there would be no water for four days. Later, the government notice stating that supplies would resume in four days was removed and fears grew that the crisis could last longer.
Prices of bottled water have risen sharply. For example, the wholesale price for Chunzhongchun, a local brand of mineral water, has doubled from 0.5 yuan (about five cents) to 1 yuan.
The stretch of polluted water, which contains nearly 30 times the safe level of nitro-benzene, was expected to reach Harbin yesterday evening and to continue to make its way downriver today.
"Several major tributaries join the Songhua river on the downstream of Harbin. This will help to lessen the degree of pollution," a city official said.
Harbin is the provincial capital of Heilongjiang province, which borders Russia. The provincial government has allocated 10 million yuan (€1 million) to deal with the incident, the official added.
The poisoning of the Songhua and subsequent panic in Harbin has received wide coverage in the Chinese media. This is significant in itself, as China has only recently allowed newspapers and TV channels to report natural disasters.
The panic deepened as rumours spread of an imminent earthquake. Many residents were sleeping out of doors in spite of the freezing weather, local people said.
Harbin is known for its frozen winters and for its annual ice sculpture festival in January, which draws tourists from throughout China. The city was founded as a frontier town in the late 19th century and is famous for its old Russian and European-influenced architecture.