Lead-zinc spill in China

Beijing - A lead-zinc spill into a river in central China cut water supplies to more than 200,000 people for one day.

Xinhua news agency said 30,000 cu m of lead-zinc residue were washed into the river after a culvert under a tailings dam at the private Zhongtai Mining Corp, collapsed in Lengshuijiang city.

It was the second such accident in the city. In 2005, water supplies were cut for part of a day when a fertiliser maker accidentally spilled 100 cu m of ammonia nitrate into the river. - AP