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China uses bomber planes to blast ice blockages

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-18 20:54

HOHHOT - Three Chinese air force bombers were used Wednesday to clear ice blockages along a section of the Yellow River in Dalad, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The bombers dropped some 9,000 kg of dynamite in three sorties and removed the blockage at the southern banks of the river at Putuobu in Engebei Township, Dalad, said Chen Xin, spokesman for the Inner Mongolia Yellow River Ice Blockage Prevention Headquarters.

"The water level fell back minutes after the dynamite was dropped and the flood threat eased," said Chen.

Wednesday's mission took 50 minutes.

Sections of the Yellow River, the second longest in China, freeze and thaw at different times. When an ice run flows to a frozen section, it can become blocked. If the blockage persists, water levels may rise and cause floods and dam bursts, threatening lives and property. The ice-run phenomenon takes place at the start of winter and spring.

Chen said the section of the Yellow River that flows through Inner Mongolia thawed earlier this year than previous years, but the partly melted ice gathered to form blockages. The volume of floodwater in the region reached 1.7 billion cubic meters, surpassing that of last year.

Chen added that similar operations would be carried out in days to come to completely end the flood threat in Inner Mongolia.

The 5,464-km river originates in Qinghai Province in the northwest and flows through Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and Shandong before emptying into the Bohai Sea.