Chinese river poisoned by cyanide spill
U.S. Water News Online
BEIJING -- Tons of deadly cyanide leaked into a river in central China after the truck transporting it overturned, state media and local officials said. Animals were poisoned and at least one person was made ill by contamination.
The truck carrying 11 tons of liquid sodium cyanide overturned on a rutted road along a tributary of the Luohe River, said a county government official in Luoning, in Henan province about 500 miles southwest of Beijing.
Henan authorities erected a pair of dams to contain the spill, said the official, who gave only his surname, Yang. One man fell ill after he ate sweet potatoes washed in contaminated water, Yang said. The man has now recovered, Yang said.
The truck driver, who fled after the accident, has been detained, Yang said. A representative from a gold mine that bought the cyanide and four other men are also being held, he said. Mines use cyanide to extract metals from ore.
Yang said the river flows into the Luohe, which provides drinking water to the industrial city of Luoyang. But the Luohe hasn't been contaminated, he said.
Police and soldiers poured tons of bleach and calx, similar to lime, into the river to soak up the spill, said a Henan environmental protection official.
The official China Daily newspaper said livestock animals were killed by the contamination but gave no details.
Results from 11 water testing stations showed that contamination was limited to just a few miles of river between the two containment dams, the newspaper said.
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