The Ministry of Environmental Protection rules out Tuesday the possibility that the source of a fuel oil spill in Amur, or Heilongjiang, River, came from China.

The picture taken on June 5 shows that Chinese and Russian environmental workers collect water samples on the Heilongjiang River during a joint observation and survey of the river.

The local environmental department of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province said, no oil and chemical plants were located on the upper reaches of the contaminated area within the country, and it also found no spilling ship or land pollution sources in the nearby area.

After Russia informed China of pollution in the Amur River On July 8, the Ministry of Environmental Protection immediately sent an expert team to Heilongjiang Province to assist local environmental department in investigation.

On July 10, an official with the Ministry of Environmental Protection met Russian diplomats in China and told them the investigation results and advised Russia to continue its investigation on the pollution sources.

China would strengthen its cooperation with Russia in monitoring the water quality in the river and reducing the pollutants' effect on local residents.

(Xinhua News Agency July 16, 2008)