After a chemical tanker leak at China’s Quanzhou Port, in the beginning of November, seven people got arrested. Namely, six people from the company that caused the leak and four crew on board the ship were put under criminal coercive measures.
On November 4, seven tons of aromatic hydrocarbon leaked into the ocean, in Quanzhou Port, Fujian Donggang Petrochemical reported. The incident happened while the company was loading petrochemical cargo into the chemical tanker ‘Tian Tong 1’. During the operation the transfer pipe broke and the leak occurred.
The port responded immediately by deploying a team to clean the chemical spill, which according to sources was completed the same evening.
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In a recent update, the Xinhua news agency reported that on the day of the leak, six people from the company and four crewmembers of the tanker were put under criminal coercive measures. Seven of them were arrested.
In addition, the investigation of the incident showed that the total amount of the leak was 69.1 tonnes and not seven as initially reported. The investigation identified that violation of operation rules and failure to repair played a key role in the incident.
In China, criminal coercive measures may lead to summons by force, bail, residential surveillance, detention or arrest.
Finally, the deputy party chief of Quangang district under Quanzhou, and a number of officials in transport, production safety and port authorities were also punished.
