Workers try to contain 9-km oil slick along China river

BEIJING, Aug 13 (Reuters) About 600 workers were trying to contain a nine-kilometre slick of crude oil that spilled from a storage tank into a river in northwest China, state media reported today.

The crude oil spilled into Zhouhe river in Shaanxi province last Friday from an oil tank belonging to Yongning Drilling Co.

in Zhidan county when workers cleaning the tank left a valve open, the Beijing News and the Xinhua news agency said.

It was unclear how much oil was leaked. An investigation was under way.

Zhouhe is a tributary of the Luohe river which flows into the Yellow river, the country's second longest.

Last week, hundreds of villagers in the eastern coastal province of Shandong rushed to collect crude oil that spilled from a pipeline run by state oil firm Sinopec and sold it to small refineries for a profit, local media reported.

REUTERS LL KP0907