国内英语新闻:Irrational layouts of chemical factories blamed for life-threatening accidents in China

CHANGCHUN, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Soldiers and emergency workers are still struggling to retrieve the thousands of chemical-filled barrels that were swept into a major river by rain-triggered floods in northeast China's Jilin Province.

Some 3,000 chemical-filled barrels and 4,000 empty ones fell into the Songhua River Wednesday morning after floods swamped the warehouses of two chemical companies in Jilin City, Jilin Province.

The accident happened on the same day when Zhou Shengxian, minister of environmental protection, called for more steps to tackle pollution in the Songhua River while addressing a meeting on water pollution control.

Though the river is facing the risk of being contaminated by chemicals, experts have concluded that the root cause of the accident is the irrational layout of chemical factories.

MORE THAN 5,000 BARRELS RECOVERED AMID DIFFICULTIES

More than 5,000 of the 7,000 chemical barrels had been recovered as of 7 p.m. Saturday, local authorities said.

Additionally, more than 10,000 soldiers and civilians have been stationed at 16 points in Jilin's Songyuan City, where the Songhua River enters Zhaoyuan City in the Heilongjiang Province; their task is to try and recover all the remaining barrels within the territory of Jilin Province.

However, as the Fengman Dam, located on the upper reaches of the Songhua River, opened its floodgates Friday afternoon to discharge flood waters, the unrecovered barrels are now flowing faster down the river and it has become more difficult to retrieve them, said Professor Liu Guoliang, a chemist who is leading Heilongjiang's retrieval team.

Experts are concerned that the chemical-filled barrels might explode if they slam into a dam at high speed, although the dams may be helpful in intercepting the barrels.

"The blue barrels are like time bombs. We don't know when any of them might explode," said Chen Yanpeng, a resident of Jilin's Yushu City, who has participated in the salvage work.

"In addition to retrieving the barrels, people should also consider why this has happened," Cheng said.