A toxic benzene slick in the Songhua River was to arrive yesterday in Tongjiang City of northeastern Heilongjiang Province, where the river joins the Heilongjiang River flowing into Russia's Amur River.
The chemical density increased to 0.1694 milligram per liter at 3am yesterday at Fujin, 65 kilometers upstream from Tongjiang City, compared with 0.0709 mg/l at 4am Wednesday, according to the provincial environment protection bureau of Heilongjiang yesterday morning. Officials said the density of the benzene pollution in the Songhua has declined sharply and should further dilute before flowing into the Heilongjiang River. The spill resulted from an explosion at a upstream petrochemical plant last month.