A deadly 80km toxic slick on Thursday reached the outskirt of Harbin, a Chinese city of 9m people, after it made its way down the Songhua river and putting thousands of residents to flight. The slick of benzene and other toxins was leaked into the river, the city’s main source of water, after a series of explosions 10 days ago at a chemicals factory 200km upriver... Anheuser-Busch, the US brewer which has a plant in the city,... said its brewery was using “100 per cent well water” from deep aquifers to produce its beer, adding that it was supplying Harbin’s citizens with water from its own supplies and making tankers available... After a series of contradictory statements by the city and PetroChina, the overseas-listed energy giant which runs the plant where the accident occurred, Beijing’s environmental watchdog confirmed the Songhua river had been contaminated.