Submersible walls to stay in Czech river by Mon over petrol leak

Experts are removing the chemicals, a mixture of petrols, from the river and investigating the case.

Bilina, a tributary of the Labe (Elbe) River that flows to Germany, 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.

A large number of fishes died because of the petrol leak. Moreover, hazardous substances got to the Labe River.

It is unlikely that Germany would be hit by the leak yet Czech experts reported it to their colleagues in Saxony.

Suma said he could smell petrol in Labe in Usti nad Labem on Friday but that no petrol could be seen on the water. "The substance was already very diluted," he said.

CIZP will start disciplinary proceedings against Unipetrol RPA. The company may be fined up to millions of crowns.

Czech firefighters had immediately assisted in the accident on Wednesday, 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.

The substance had leaked from the Petrochemie complex, which is part of the Unipetrol.

($1=18.392 crowns)

Autor: ČTK
www.ctk.cz