A week after the botched attempt to cover up one of China's biggest toxic pollution leaks the country's leading petroleum company and senior provincial officials have made a public apology to assuage a barrage of criticism from the domestic media and millions of people deprived of water supplies.

The unusual show of contrition highlights the growing sensitivity to public opinion of businesses and politicians, who can no longer depend on the support of a monolithic communist administration and docile journalistic coverage.

Central government officials went to Harbin yesterday to investigate the spilling of carcinogenic benzene into the Songhua river after an explosion at a plant owned by the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) on November 13.

Although five people died in the blast, company executives and local government officials insisted at the time that water supplies had not been contaminated. This was confirmed as a lie on Thursday, when the State Environment Protection Administration reported that 100 tonnes of pollution had leaked into the river.

In a humiliating climbdown, the deputy general manager of CNPC, Zeng Yukang, expressed "sincere sympathy and deep apologies to riverside residents".

One of the north-east region's most powerful politicians, Jiao Zhengzhong, the secretary of the Jilin communist party, made a similar act of humility, driving to Harbin to say sorry and deliver several tonnes of drinking water to the city.

Municipal officials say mains supplies will flow again on Sunday, though the recent freezing weather is likely to have trapped some contaminants in the ice that is forming on the river.

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005

###