国内英语新闻:Civilians called in as China's river salvage faces challenge, half of chemical containers re

CHANGCHUN, July 30 (Xinhua) -- Civilians were mobilized Friday to join exhausted soldiers and emergency workers struggling against mounting difficulties to retrieve thousands of chemical-filled barrels that were swept into a major northeast China river by flood waters two days ago.

Some 3,000 full barrels and 4,000 empty ones were swept into the Wende River and on to the Songhua River after floods hit warehouses of two chemical factories in Jilin City, Jilin Province, early Wednesday.

As of 6 p.m. Friday, 3,700 of the about 7,000 containers have been retrieved, according to a statement from the provincial government.

Provincial authorities vowed to retrieve all the containers before they flow out of Hadashan Reservoir on the lower reaches of Songhua River in Jilin's Songyuan City.

However, salvage workers fear some of the barrels, many filled with 170 kilograms of flammable liquid, may have sunk to the bottom of the Songhua River, raising serious risks of lingering water contamination.

Chemical barrels were also spotted lying unattended in the debris of flood-devastated villages.

At 2 p.m. Friday, the Fengman Reservoir, on a tributary of the Songhua River and 24 km southeast of Jilin City, opened floodgates to discharge flood waters.

The water flow at each gate peaked at 800 cubic meters per second around 4 p.m., and at least thousands of residents had been evacuated over Thursday night and Friday morning.

Workers said the move might help speed up salvage efforts by washing away floating debris, such as trash, weeds and tree branches, which had hampered the work.