Emergency response teams in China are resorting to removing oil on beaches on the country's northeastern coast with their bare hands, according to Agence France-Presse.

Environmental groups are warning that a lack of training is impeding the cleanup operation which began last Friday after two offshore pipelines exploded.

Greenpeace claimed that the spill could result in long-term environmental damage in the region as the slick continues to grow rapidly.

Official estimates released on Monday (Jul 19th) revealed that the slick was around 435 km in size, but by Thursday this estimate had more than doubled to 946 km, with around 1,500 tonnes of oil spilled.

Zhong Yu, a Greenpeace campaigner observing the clean-up efforts, told the news agency: "The citizens-turned-cleaners we saw yesterday in the sea basically did not have any protective gear and could only use their hands to clean up the oil."

Elsewhere, the Financial Times reports that at least one person has died in the cleanup operation.

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