The government of Danfeng County, Shaanxi Province, has been awarded 8.6 million yuan (US$1.03 million) in compensation for damage cause by a chemical spill at a local river.
In mid-September last year, a truck carrying 10 tons of Cymag, a highly poisonous chemical, overturned and all the chemicals leaked into the Danjiang River in the county, court officials said.
The truck, headed for a Fengxian County gold mine, was overloaded, the officials said.
Hundreds of thousands of river area residents were affected and direct economic loss to the government amounted to more than 11 million yuan(US$1.3 million), local authorities said.
The court ordered the chemical company in Hubei Province to pay 6.93 million yuan(US$833,635), the gold mine 1.3 million yuan (US$157,062), and the two truck drivers and others the reminder.
Officials from the mine and the chemical firm and the two drivers were sentenced to prison for terms of up to five and a half year in May of this year.
(eastday.com November 20, 2001)
