Oil cleanup in Chinese port city to take more than 10 days

The estimated 1,500 tons of crude oil that have leaked into the sea near Dalian from two busted pipelines since last Friday will take more than 10 days to clean up, CCTV reported yesterday.

The Liaoning Maritime Bureau said the oil that entered the sea has been contained and about 20 vessels, including four patrol boats, were used to clean the pollution. As of now, 50 tons of crude oil has been cleaned up.

At present, the polluted sea areas around Dalian have reached 50 square kilometers and the total affected areas cover an area of about 100 square kilometers, according to the Liaoning Maritime Bureau.

Firefighters are still at the scene. They used water cannons and foam to cool the oil tank. They also made great efforts to investigate the drains that crude oil may have leaked into to prevent the oil from returning unexpectedly.

By Zhao Chenyan, People's Daily Online