BEIJING, CHINA (Commodity Online): Heavy winds spread the oil slick from a pipeline explosion in eastern China across a larger area than originally thought, environmental groups say.
The explosion of two oil pipelines created a plume that is spreading across the Dalian coast near the eastern Chinese shore.
Engineers with the China National Petroleum Corp. closed relief valves on the pipeline, keeping much of the oil out of regional waters. The environmental advocacy group Greenpeace, however, said the oil spill is one of the worst in recent history, the BBC reports.
State officials, meanwhile, worry that heavy winds may have broken up the spill but dispersed it across a larger area.
The BBC said Wednesday the plume is covering more than 165 square miles of water. China's official Xinhua news agency said Tuesday the plume has covered roughly 70 square miles of the Dalian coast.
Chinese officials dispatched hundred off ships to the region to help control the spill.
Wu Guogong, deputy director of Dalian's environmental protection bureau, said earlier this week that about 4 square miles of the ocean in the area are "relatively polluted." (iWireNews and OfficialWire)
