Latest Jilin Stories

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A toxic slick flowing along a Chinese river has reached the border with Russia, even as Chinese plaintiffs say that local courts are dragging their feet in hearing a case against the company that caused the spill, media said. A slick of benzene has moved up the frigid Songhua river, forcing Chinese cities to shut down water supplies as it passes. The slice has reached the junction of the Songhua and Amur rivers, known in Chinese as Heilong, which forms the...

By Benjamin Kang Lim BEIJING (Reuters) - A fire swept through a hospital in northeast China killing at least 39 patients and forcing many to jump from windows or climb down knotted bedsheets to escape, state media said on Friday. Firefighters battled for five hours to put out the blaze at City Central Hospital, the largest in Liaoyuan city, Jilin province, late on Thursday, media said. It was the second major accident to hit Jilin in as many months. An explosion at a chemical plant...

BEIJING (Reuters) - A fire at the largest hospital in the northeastern Chinese city of Liaoyuan killed 33 people on Thursday, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Xinhua quoted a provincial government official as saying rescuers found 19 bodies at the scene and 14 other people died after they were transferred to other hospitals for treatment. It said all the victims were patients at Liaoyuan's City Central Hospital. The cause of the blaze and the extent of the damage were not...

BEIJING (Reuters) - A fire gutted the largest hospital in the northeastern Chinese city of Liaoyuan on Thursday killing at least 10 people, the official Xinhua news agency said. The 10 victims were patients who died while being transferred to other hospitals in the city, in Jilin province, Xinhua said. The cause of the blaze and the extent of the damage were not immediately known. Last month, an explosion at a chemical plant in Jilin spilled 100 tonnes of cancer-causing benzene...

By Ben Blanchard and Vivi Lin BEIJING (Reuters) - A vice mayor in charge of evacuating a Chinese city after a chemical plant exploded has been found dead at home, a city official said on Wednesday, as a toxic river flow resulting from the accident continued to spread. Wang Wei, vice mayor in the northeastern city of Jilin, had been in charge of dealing with the aftermath of the November 13 blast, state media reports said at the time. Wang was quoted as saying that the accident would not...

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will come down hard on those responsible for a blast at a chemical plant in northeastern China which poisoned water supplies for millions of people and raised alarm bells in Russia, state media said on Wednesday. Last month's explosion resulted in the flow of 100 tonnes of cancer-causing benzene compounds into the Songhua river which provides drinking water for the city of Harbin with a population of 9 million people. "Anyone ... found guilty of dereliction of...

By Brian Rhoads BEIJING (Reuters) - China's environment chief resigned on Friday following a two-week crisis over a toxic spill that polluted a northeast China river, forced the shutdown of tapwater supplies to millions of Chinese and raised alarm bells in Russia. Xie Zhenhua, chief of the State Environmental Protection Agency since 1993, resigned and was replaced by the former forestry director Zhou Shengxian, Xinhua news agency said, citing a statement by the country's cabinet....

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has criticised environment officials in its northeastern province of Jilin for their failure to report on a toxic spill and said the delay hampered efforts to control pollution, the China Daily reported on Friday. An explosion at a Jilin chemical plant on November 13 poured 100 tonnes of cancer-causing benzene compounds into the Songhua River, but the State Environmental Protection Administration said from November 14 to 17 it received no reports from...

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has criticized environment officials in its northeastern province of Jilin for their failure to report on a toxic spill and said the delay hampered efforts to control pollution, the China Daily reported on Friday. An explosion at a Jilin chemical plant on November 13 poured 100 tons of cancer-causing benzene compounds into the Songhua River, but the State Environmental Protection Administration said from November 14 to 17 it received no reports from...

BEIJING (Reuters) - An explosion in a coal mine in China's northeastern province of Heilongjiang has killed 30 miners and trapped another 149, state media said on Monday. The blast was reported on Sunday at Dongfeng Coal Mine, run by a branch of the Heilongjiang Longmei Mining (Group) Co. Ltd., the Xinhua news agency quoted the provincial coal mine safety administration as saying. More than 40 miners escaped overnight, but 221 were working underground at the time of the blast, Xinhua...