Thousands battle algae bloom in Olympic host city

From correspondents in Asia Pacific, 09:30 PM IST Thousands of soldiers and volunteers Friday in the eastern Chinese coastal city of Qingdao, where the Olympic sailing events would be held, were battling to clear a major algae bloom in the sea. More than 1,200 vessels were at sea cleaning the foul-smelling algae, and inflatable barriers were placed near the coastline to prevent the algae from encroaching on the shore. According to an emergency headquarter set up to clean the algae, enteromorpha prolifera, said its spread in the 50 km area, where the sailing competition would be held, has been reduced from 32 percent five days ago to less than 10 percent now. Around 110,000 soldiers and volunteers have been engaged in efforts to clear the area from algae. The algae growth was first spotted in late May. A government figure... [read full story]