Petrol leaks from chemical plant into river in North Bohemia

They said the firefighters had immediately assisted in the accident, which had minimised its impact on the environment. They had to build over ten submersible walls in the river between Litvinov and Usti nad Labem-Trmice.

Experts are removing the chemicals from the river and investigating the case.

Firefighters will take samples of the substance and send them to a laboratory.

Marvan said the chemicals were probably hydrocarbons.

The police along with representatives of the environment section and other bodies are monitoring the situation on the spot.

Petrochemie has set up an emergency commission over the case, Martinek added.

The chemicals smelling like petrol polluted the Bilna River before the town of Most on Wednesday afternoon. The source of the pollution and the character of the substance were known later.

Experts found out that the substance had leaked from the Petrochemie complex in the night.

"An investigation in Petrochemie is underway," Martinek said.

Unipetrol RPA has apologised to local inhabitants for problems caused by the leak.

Bilina is among the most polluted rivers in the Czech Republic. Hazardous substances have leaked into the river quite frequently. However, the source of pollution is usually not revealed.

Autor: ČTK
www.ctk.cz