Severe floods washed 3,000 barrels of explosive chemicals into the Songhua River in the Northeast Chinese province of Jilin. The river is the main source of drinking water for Jilin, the province's second-largest city. The barrels washed away from the storage facilities of two chemical plants held over 160 metric tons of methyl chloride. An additional 4,000 empty barrels have also been washed downstream.
Russia fears the chemicals may contaminate the Amur River, which feeds water to the Russian Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk.
