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Chinese Oil Spill

Category: Environment

Workers resort to using their bare hands as the latest oil spill goes almost unnoticed...

Whilst the worlds media focus on the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, another spill off China's northeast coast has gone largely unnoticed. Workers have resorted to using their bare hands and are struggling to contain the spill, investigators have said.

China oil spill

In response to warnings of a heavy long-term environmental impact, the Chinese government has mobilised hundreds of fishing boats and other vessels to clean up the spill that occurred in the port city of Dalian, but Greenpeace said many people thrown into the effort were reduced to using their bare hands.

The estimated size of the oil spill doubled Wednesday - just as dramatic photos emerged showing two men thrashing around in oil-clogged waters, trying to keep afloat. Whilst workers raced against the clock to contain a growing environmental disaster, Firefighters rescued the two men. But China's state-run newswire Xinhua reported that another firefighter died in a separate incident after a wave swept him away while he was trying to fix a boat's pump under water.

Oil spill in China

The disaster began Friday in the port city of Dalian, China's second biggest oil port, when an oil pipeline exploded and crude oil leaked into the Yellow Sea, then burned in a huge firestorm for 15 hours.

The affected Chinese province mobilized "all staff under the age of 50" at its maritime affairs office to join in the cleanup, Xinhua reported. Tourist beaches near Dalian were closed. As of Tuesday, 40 special "oil-skimming" vessels, 800 boats, and oil-eating bacteria had joined the fight, Xinhua said.

As of 2006, China depended on oil for 20 percent of its energy needs, the second-largest source after coal, at 70 percent.

It seems dependence on fossil fuels comes at a high price.