Marine exercises held for oil spills

　　China staged a large marine exrcise Monday at the m outh of Pearl River to improve its response capacity to oil spills at sea. The drill wax the largest ever and t he first to be held inthe Guangzhou-Hong Kong area.The drill began at8:50 am Monday morning with a simulated c ollision between a cargo ship and an oil tanker north o f Shenzhen.

　　For the purposes of the drill,the tanker was said t o be loaded with500 tons of oil,which if spilled would cause extensive damage to nature reserves, aquztic cult ivation fields,and scenic spots in the area.

　　Soon after,the Shenzhen Maritime Safety Administrat ion received a rescue request from the oil tanker and i mmediately began organiaing a rescue and pollution-cont rol mission.

　　By9:20,Shenzhen's marine fire-fighting squad, two m onitoring ships and a pollution control ship arrived at the accident site.The fire-fighting ship put out the fl ames by9:35am.

　　The drill involved two helicopters and40-plus ships from Guangzhou,Shenzhen, Zhuhai,Hong Kong,and Macao,and ended successfully by noon.

　　Song jiahui,vice-director of the State Maritime Saf ety Adminitration said the drill displayed a quich and well co-ordinated response by Guangdong Province,Hong K ong and Macao.

　　He also said the drill proves that oil spills can b e handled efficiently and quichly.

　　The area had two serious oil spills last year,one i n Yantai in November and another in Zhuhai in March.Mor e than300 people died because of the Yantai spill,and50 0 tons of oil were leaked in the Zhuhai spill, causing economic、losses of40 million yuan(US$4.8million).Last y ear's spill at Zhuhai took place not far from the site of yesterday's drill.

　　Notes:

　　aquatic/e'kw tik/adj.near water