Beijing police have arrested two men responsible for an oil spill that caused four accidents involving eight cars and snarled up traffic in downtown Beijng on Sunday.

 

Shi Xinyi, driver of the white tanker that spilled diesel oil, and Gao Changshuan, who was aboard the vehicle when the spill occurred, were seized by police in Fengtai District of Beijing at 11:00AM on Monday, said Wang Gang, head of the traffic accident department of the Beijing Municipal Traffic Management Bureau, on Tuesday.

 

The white tanker was located and impounded.

 

Shi confessed he drove the white tanker that spilt oil on the second ring road on Sunday, Wang said.

 

Wang said more than 100 policemen were dispatched to hunt for the two suspects and their vehicle. Policemen visited over 60 work units along the second ring road and interviewed over 110 people to find the clues.

 

Further investigation into the case is underway, Wang told a news briefing on Tuesday.

 

The police source said the oil slick was discovered around 6:00 AM Sunday on the west part of the capital's second ring road between Guanyuan Bridge and Tianningsi Bridge.

 

A three-kilometer-long oil slick caused four accidents involving eight cars on the Guanyuan Bridge-Tianningsi Bridge section of the second ring road. The accidents meant that traffic had to be suspended on the second ring road for over two hours.

 

The accidents caused no deaths, but the municipal public security bureau's traffic management bureau said some people were injured in the collisions.

 

Fifty-four policemen were rapidly dispatched to the accident site to direct traffic.

 

Workers from Beijing's public sanitation department covered the oily section of the road with sand.

 

Traffic resumed at 8:35AM but people still found it difficult to drive on the slippery road surface.

 

A similar accident took place a year ago when a big quantity of oil was split over a 3.9-km-long section of Beijing's second ring road, causing three hours of traffic congestion.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 20, 2006)