Chinese oil firm apologises for polluting water

China’s biggest oil company apologised for an explosion that polluted a north-eastern river with benzene and prompted the government to cut off running water to 3.8 million people, while another blast in the country’s south-west raised fears today of a second toxic spill.

Zeng Yukang, deputy general manager of China National Petroleum, expressed “sympathy and deep apologies” late yesterday to the people of Harbin and others in China’s north-east whose water supply was shut down due to the huge benzene slick in the Songhua River, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.