China oil spill contained

Chinese state media have reported that an oil slick which stretched for nine kilometres along the Zhouhe River in the province of Shaanxi on Friday has been contained.

The Xinhua news agency said that some 600 workers had been deployed to control the spill, which had occurred when workers at the Yongning Drilling Company had ruptured a tank whilst cleaning it, spilling ten tonnes of crude oil around half of which reached the river.

Six makeshift booms were put in place to stop the flow of oil downstream.

An investigation into how the accident happened is underway.

Sam Bond