Smoke and flames erupt into the air after blasts hit two oil pipelines in Dalian, a port city in northeast China's Liaoning Province last night. An explosion first hit a 0.9 meter-diameter oil pipeline at about 6pm and triggered an adjacent smaller pipeline to explode near Dalian Xingang Harbor. The pipelines, owned by China National Petroleum Corp, caught fire and more than 400 firefighters and 110 fire engines were at the scene. The larger pipeline blaze had been extinguished by 11:30pm but the smaller one was still burning as firefighters failed to turn off its oil pump.

RAGING fires after oil pipeline explosions in Dalian, Liaoning Provinces, were put out after 15 hours of battling by fire fighters, Xinhua reporters at the site said this morning.

Two oil pipelines exploded yesterday evening in Dalian port.

An explosion first hit a 0.9 meter-diameter oil pipeline at about 6:30pm and triggered an adjacent smaller pipeline to explode near Dalian Xingang Port.

No deaths or injuries have been reported so far.

Both pipelines, owned by China National Petroleum Corp, caught fire and more than 1,000 firefighters and 300 fire engines worked at the site.

Blaze of the larger pipeline was extinguished before 11:30pm.

Liaoning government sent special jets to transport fire foam for the campaign.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have issued instructions on fire-fighting work. Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang rushed to the spot to direct rescue work last night.

An oil tank that was unloading oil in the port when the blast broke out had left the scene unharmed.

The pipelines were links between oil ships and land tankers.

• province [´prɔvins] n.省；领域；范围 (初中英语单词)
• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• transport [træn´spɔ:t] n.运输；流放 (初中英语单词)
• premier [´premiə] n.总理 a.首要的 (初中英语单词)
• rescue [´reskju:] vt.&n.救援；挽救 (初中英语单词)
• northeast [,nɔ:θ´i:st] n.东北 a.东北的 (高中英语单词)
• explosion [ik´spləuʒən] n.爆炸；爆发；发作 (高中英语单词)
• campaign [kæm´pein] n.战役；行动 vi.从军 (高中英语单词)
• adjacent [ə´dʒeisənt] a.接近的；紧接着的 (英语四级单词)
• petroleum [pi´trəuliəm] n.石油 (英语四级单词)