CRI听力:Pollutants Monitoring Continues Days After Chemical Plant Blast in East China

Monitoring of toxic pollutants has continued in Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province, days after a chemical plant producing paraxylene exploded earlier this week.

The local environmental protection authority said they had set up monitoring points in surrounding areas, and that the air quality there has met national standards.

Xu Ya is an engineer with the Fujian Provincial Environmental Monitoring Center:

"These data were obtained from the sensor in Xiliao village 15 minutes ago. The concentration of benzene is around four micrograms per cubic meter and this is a very small amount. So to speak, this is even below China's standard for indoor benzene concentrations."

On Monday evening, oil that had leaked from a xylene facility caught fire and led to blasts at three nearby chemical oil tanks at Tenglong Aromatic Hydrocarbon Company, located on the city's Gulei Peninsula.

The fire was eventually put out on Thursday.

The quality of sea water around the accident site is also being monitored.

Hu Qinghui is a senior engineer with Fujian Provincial Off-shore Environmental Monitoring Station.

"Judging from the monitoring result, the water quality is more or less the same as before the accident."

The accident management authority says that as of 22:00 on Friday night, most of the local residents had been evacuated from the surrounding areas.