A drill was held on Wednesday to improve the handling of accidents on the Yangtze, China's longest and the world's third longest river.
More than 300 police, fire fighters, divers and other rescuers took part in the drill, the largest scale exercise in recent years, according to the Yangtze River Administration of Navigational Affairs, part of the Ministry of Transport.
China is working to transform the river into a safe, clean waterway for transportation.
Rescuers practiced emergency responses involving oil leaks, fighting fires, salvaging sunken ships and saving lives.
The drill took place near the city of Jiujiang in east China's Jiangxi Province.
In 2014, China made developing an economic belt along the Yangtze a national strategy. Stretching from Yunnan Province in southwest China to Shanghai in the east, the Yangtze River Economic Belt covers nine provinces and two municipalities in an area of 2.05 million square kilometers.
Authorities have stressed that environmental protection should be a priority in the development of the belt, which accounts for more than 40 percent of the country's population and economic aggregate.
