SYANGAN (Hong Kong), November 29 (RIA Novosti, Mark Zavadsky) - China said Tuesday it would supply Russia with free equipment to detect benzene in water after an explosion at a petrochemicals plant dumped toxic chemicals into a tributary of Russia's Amur River.
The Chinese State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) said that an agreement had been reached during a meeting between SEPA deputy head Zhang Lijun and a Russian delegation that arrived November 28 in the city of Harbin, which itself had to turn the faucets off for four days in the wake of the accident.
China will also send an expert to Russia to help adjust the equipment and train local staff.
Russian experts are planning to study the results of the monitoring of the Songhua River, which was first affected by the November 13 accident, and welcome China's assistance in observing the toxic spill in the Amur, the press service of the Far Eastern office of the World Wildlife Fund said.
About 100 metric tons of chemicals, including potentially lethal benzene, spilled into the Songhua after the accident at the plant in northeastern China and are now heading along the Amur toward the Russian city of Khabarovsk, which has a population of about 600,000.
Russian officials have said the situation is under control.
