China records 471 environment emergencies in 2014

China recorded 471 pollution emergencies in 2014, 241 less than in 2013, the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) announced on Friday.

The MEP disclosed the top three worst incidents of the year.

One in Maoming City, Guangdong Province, in January 2014 resulted in 97 middle school students and teachers being hospitalized. They inhaled toxic gas from sewage dumped by an auto repair factory.

Five days after the incident, the water quality was back to normal, and all 97 victims were discharged from hospital.

In April, a section of the Hanjiang River, which flows through Wuhan, the seat of the central province of Hubei, was found to contain an excessive concentration of ammonia and nitrogen.

The contamination was traced to an upstream city that had released flood water. It took two days for the water to be returned to a safe level.

In August, the Qianzhangyan Reservoir in southwest Chongqing -- which supplies 50,000 people with drinking water -- was polluted by waste from a mining company.

Huangchangping Mining Co. illegally began a trial production of pyrites, and dumped its untreated waste water on land near the plant. The toxic waste water seeped into ground water that flowed to the Qianzhangyan Reservoir, which is three kilometers away.

The company was fined one million yuan (US$160,600), and its manager was put into custody, according to the MEP.