The clean-up work for the chemical leak in Quanzhou, Fujian Province. (File photo: VCG)

Prosecutors have approved the arrest of seven people involved in the chemical leak in a port city of southeast China’s Fujian Province, says a statement released on Tuesday.

The suspects were arrested over the weekend for the leak in Quanzhou City earlier this month. They are employees from Fujian Donggang Petrochemical Industry Co. Ltd, which caused the leak when loading C9 aromatic solvent into a tanker at a local port, and crew member on a vessel. 

Investigation showed that violation of operation rules led to a total leakage of 69.1 tonnes of chemical. The Donggang company's failure in repairing the crane that had been in a breakdown status for some time is also a cause.

(With input from Xinhua)