A major oil port in north-eastern China has been shut down, following pipeline explosions that spilled oil into the sea.
Explosions in the port of Dalian caused huge amounts of oil to pour into the ocean and, according to local media reports cited by the ABC, there is now a 50 sq km oil slick about 100 kilometres off the coast.
The explosions in at least two pipelines happened while a tanker was offloading.
Hundreds of firefighters reportedly battled for more than 15 hours to stop the subsequent blaze.
Workers are now trying to minimise the spread of the slick with chemicals designed to break up the oil.
