Authorities have blocked off water purification stations along the Nile River in southern Egypt to prevent 100 tonnes of diesel oil that leaked from a barge from polluting drinking water, officials said on Sunday.
The vessel was docked in Aswan, 1,100km south of Cairo, when low water levels caused it to tilt, partially submerge and leak 110 tonnes of diesel fuel into the Nile on Saturday.
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Aswan Governor Mustafa al-Sayed told the MENA news agency that sites along the Nile that feed river water to purification stations have been blocked off as a precautionary measure to prevent polluted water from entering filters.
Egypt gets much of its drinking water from the Nile.
Luxor Governor Samir Farag said the small slick fragmented as it passed through an area of dense grass. Farag said samples of water would be tested regularly as the spill approached Luxor, which is down river from Aswan.
REGULAR TESTS
A senior Luxor official, Hussein Ali, said the slick was 55m wide and 2km long, but was shrinking and was not expected to affect water supply stations.
Earlier on Saturday, the barge’s captain, Yasser Hussein, told police that a drop in water levels caused his vessel to tilt and submerge, allowing the diesel fuel to leak into the river, a security official said.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the barge was unloaded to refloat it.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is constructing a new counter-stealth radar system on a disputed reef in the South China Sea that would significantly expand its surveillance capabilities in the region, satellite imagery suggests. Analysis by London-based think tank Chatham House suggests China is upgrading its outpost on Triton Island (Jhongjian Island, 中建島) on the southwest corner of the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), building what might be a launching point for an anti-ship missile battery and sophisticated radar system. “By constraining the US ability to operate stealth aircraft, and threaten stealth aircraft, these capabilities in the South China Sea send
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