Fan Syanjun, Chinese consul general in Russia's Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk, voiced his regrets over the explosion at a Chinese factory on November 13, which resulted in 100 tonnes of benzene spilling into the Songhua river, a tributary of the Amur, which runs along the Chinese-Russian border.

The diplomat assured the Russian presidential representative in the Far East, Yuri Averyanov, that China was doing all it could to mitigate the effects of the spill, keeping the Russian side regularly informed of the slick's progress and allowing Russian experts to take probes in the Songhua.

Meanwhile, Russian experts launched round-the-clock monitoring of the water where the Songhua flows into the Amur.

According to the Chinese authorities, the 100-kilometer-long toxic slick is now 500 kilometers away from the Amur and is expected to arrive at the junction no earlier than December 8.

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