Associated Press
June 15, 2006

Crews armed with cotton, sponges, straw and activated carbon soaked up toxic coal tar from a northern Chinese river Thursday, hurrying to absorb the spill before it reaches a city of 10 million people.

Beijing: Crews armed with cotton, sponges, straw and activated carbon soaked up toxic coal tar from a northern Chinese river Thursday, hurrying to absorb the spill before it reaches a city of 10 million people. The spill happened Monday when a truck overloaded with 60 tons of coal tar – a substance linked to cancer – crashed and dumped its contents into the Dasha River in Shanxi province. In addition to the cleanup crews, 24 dams had been set up along the river to hinder the toxic flow, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. In Baoding, city officials prepared for the pollution to hit the reservoir but did not know when it would arrive, said a man who answered the phone at the Baoding City Environmental Protection Bureau.