A Chinese maritime court on Saturday ordered the detention of a South Korean cargo ship over a chemical leak that polluted the Yangtze River, contaminating drinking water in parts of Jiangsu province, Reuters quoted the official Xinhua news agency as reporting. The country's second water pollution scare in a month sparked a run on bottled water. The court ordered the cargo ship, Gloria, to be detained at the city of Nantong and set a bail of 20.6 million yuan ($3.3 million), Bu Xiaofang, a spokesman of the Zhenjiang municipal government, was quoted as saying late on Saturday. Officials in Zhenjiang in Jiangsu province said phenol, an acid compound used to make nylon and detergents, was found in its water source last week. The pollution caused tap water in some parts of the city to emit a pungent smell, sending panicked residents to stockpile bottled water from supermarkets. The Yangtze, spanning 3,219 km west to east across China, is the country's longest river.
