Environmental authorities in Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei Province, who have been closely monitoring water quality in the main drinking water source for the city of 8.31 million people, announced the water is safe to drink after one ship carrying 49 tons of methanol sank in the Hanjiang River, local media reported today.

 

They said they'll keep a close eye on the water quality.

 

The cargo ship caught on fire around 2:10pm yesterday at the Chenjiadun dock in the Hubei provincial capital Wuhan, and then spread to three nearby ships. All the four ships were carrying methanol.

 

Rescuers saved all 12 crew members on the ships, although one sailor was injured, the report said.

 

The first ship sank, but rescuers stopped the three other ships from drifting to the lower reaches of the river. Several small blasts were reported on the ships and the air was filled with methanol, the report said.

 

The sunken ship was carrying 49 tons of methanol, while the other three were carrying a total of 527 tons of methanol, the report said.

 

By 10pm, rescuers extinguished the fires and experts took measures to prevent the chemical from polluting the river, the report said.

 

The environmental authority took water samples at four water sources, which tests showed didn't contain excessive levels of methanol, the report said.

 

Two water plants at Zongguan and Qinduan were working normally, the report said.

 

The environment authority will test water samples every 15 minutes. If the water is found to be polluted, the pipelines will be closed within one minute, the report said.

 

(Shanghai Daily September 3, 2007)