Medical treatment top priority after blast in Xiangshui

Classes to resume

Cao, the mayor of Yancheng, said on Sunday afternoon that repair work for damaged schools in the explosion was almost completed. Classes will resume on Monday.

Parents of nearby primary and kindergarten students received text message notification that schools will reopen on Monday morning. Teachers and government workers have cleaned classrooms and arranged the desks in preparation for the return of the students.

Gu Wei, who works about 350 kilometers away from his home near the exploded chemical plant, rushed home on hearing the news of the blast on Thursday. Out of safety concerns, he sent his 16-year-old son to a relative's home in a nearby township soon after he arrived home that night.

Gu said he would bring his son back home on Sunday evening to attend school, where windows were shattered by the explosion.

But the 35-year-old still had some concerns about the environment as his home in Sigang village is only about 4 km away from the chemical industry park, where the explosion occurred.

"It's a time bomb," he said.

Measures to curb pollution

Strong measures have been taken to avoid subsequent disasters, and to prevent toxin-filled water in the chemical park from flowing into the water supply.

Cao said that thorough inspections had been conducted at the chemical plants on-site to prevent further pollution scenarios.

He said these plants stored a large amount of chemicals and some sulfuric acid and nitric acid was leaked from the storage tanks after the explosion.

"Environmental experts and managers of the chemical park have been summoned to research water treatment and environmental protection issues," said Cao.

"Details of the categories, amounts and storage methods of chemicals are being carefully examined and they'll be handled with great caution to prevent secondary disasters," he said.

Li Ganjie, minister of ecology and environment, held a meeting on pollution control efforts after the blast. He demanded a comprehensive monitoring of the local environment, and all-out efforts to clean solid waste in the park and prevent polluted waters in the park from entering the Guanhe River, which runs into the Yellow Sea. The river's estuary is only some 10 km away from the park.

Rapid tests on water samples collected on Friday found waters of three rivers inside the chemical industry park were polluted by volatile organic compounds - chloroform, methylene chloride, dichloroethane and toluene. But no volatile organic compounds were detected in the waters of the three rivers outside the park.

The polluted portions of the three rivers have been cordoned off and so far no pollution was detected in waters outside of the park, according to the rescue and recovery team.

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment also ordered special attention be paid to possible contaminated rainfall runoff and its impact in the aftermath of the blast.

Wei Zheng, a worker with the environmental monitoring station of Funing county, who has been sent to Xiangshui for assistance, said he collects water samples from inside the park and the nearby Guanhe River every three hours for analysis.

"We analyze the chemical remains in the water, including aniline and nitrobenzene. Environmental protection workers have established eight water monitoring stations inside and near the chemical park."