VLADIVOSTOK, December 1 (RIA Novosti, Veronika Perminova) - The benzene stretch moving along Russia's Far Eastern Amur River after a chemical spill in neighboring China will reach the Russian port of Khabarovsk in two weeks, the local hydrometeorology agency said Thursday.
A Khabarovsk government spokesman said lab tests of the Amur waters revealed Thursday that the concentration of chemical substances posed no threat to residents.
Oleg Mitvol, the deputy chairman of the Federal Service for the Oversight of Natural Resources, said Wednesday that the benzene stretch would reach Khabarovsk in three or four days.
"The benzene concentration already exceeds maximally acceptable levels six- to eightfold," he told a news conference.
The press service of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry circulated a forecast Monday that the stretch would be in Khabarovsk December 10-12.
Khabarovsk authorities are taking measures to alleviate the possible aftermath of the Amur pollution.
Bakeries and other food producers have the situation under control, and water reserves are being prepared.
"The local department of the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare is checking the water-well holes to be used as water reserves," the local government press center said.
A hotline will soon be available for local residents to find out the status of the environmental situation in the region.
About 100 metric tons of chemicals, including potentially lethal benzene, spilled into the Songhua River, the Amur's tributary, after an accident at a petrochemicals plant in northeastern China November 13. The contaminated water is heading along the Amur toward Khabarovsk, which has a population of about 600,000.
