Move to drain lake water out deferred

Rescue workers are not likely to start draining out water from a major quake lake near Beichuan county in Sichuan province till Thursday, two days later than originally planned, Xinhua reported yesterday.

Water needs to be drained out of Tangjiashan lake to prevent it from bursting its banks and destroying life and property in the quake-ravaged areas downstream.

The water level in the lake rose 1.2 m in the 24 hours till noon yesterday. But experts said the rise in water level will slow down because not much rain is likely in the next few days.