China cleans chemical spills after ship accidents

A man walks along a small bank on the waters of the Yangtze River on a hazy day in Wuhu, Anhui province December 20, 2008.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese workers are trying to clean up dangerous chemicals in the central reaches of the Yangtze river and an oil spill near an eastern Chinese port, after two shipping accidents this weekend.

The accidents show the vulnerability of China's waterways, which are corridors for transporting industrial and chemical goods while also serving as a primary source of water for human use and agriculture.

Workers in Central Hubei province were trying to contain and retrieve 100 tonnes of hydrochloric acid carried by a ship that sunk in the Yangtze River after colliding with another vessel early on Sunday, the Xinhua news agency said.

The Yangtze is a busy shipping lane that also provides drinking water for tens of millions of people.

A test of the water around the accident scene showed the water's acidity was within the normal range, the report said, suggesting the acid had not leaked into the river.

Meanwhile, maritime workers in Zhoushan near the Yangshan port in Zhejiang province were cleaning an oil spill after an Iranian container ship, the Zoorik, ran aground on a rocky island in bad weather, Xinhua said.

The 37 people aboard the ship were rescued, but online photos showed a black slick spreading from the damaged vessel.

(Reporting by Yu Le and Lucy Hornby, Editing by Dean Yates)