Society

7,000 chemical buckets washed into major NE China river

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-07-29 10:01

CHANGCHUN - Emergency workers discovered that more than 7,000 chemical buckets had been washed into a major river in Northeast China, thousands more than Wednesday's initial findings, authorities said Thursday.    

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But only 3,000 buckets contained chemicals, about 170 kilograms each, and the other 4,000 buckets were empty, government officials told a press conference Thursday morning held in Jilin city, Jilin province.    

The buckets were swept into the Songhuajiang River from a plant in Jilin city in floods triggered by days of heavy rain. About 400 buckets had been recovered.