Some 5016 of the 7,000 chemical barrels that were swept into a major river in northeast China's Jilin Province Wednesday had been recovered as of 7:00 p.m. Saturday.

But local authorities said it was still not immediately clear how many of the retrieved barrels contained chemicals.

Some 3,000 full barrels and 4,000 empty ones were swept into the Wende River and on to the Songhua River after floods hit warehouses of two chemical factories in Jilin City, Jilin Province, early Wednesday.

Jilin provincial government has vowed to recover all containers before they flow to lower reaches of the Songhua River.

Workers are rushing to retrieve chemical-filled barrels that were swept by floods into a major river in northeast China's Jilin Province last?Wednesday.