Three executives and 19 workers of two companies were charged with dumping tons of toxic waste into a river in southern Taiwan. Prosecutors said that the executives could be sentenced to life imprisonment if convicted of attempted murder. They were caught pouring a cancer-causing solvent, dimethyl benzene, into a tributary of the Kaoping River, which serves as a main source of drinking water in southern Taiwan.

The executives charged include the chairman of the Eternal Chemical Corporation and president and vice president of the Shengli, a chemical company. Shengli was responsible for dumping industrial waste for Eternal Chemical Corporation.

The other 19 people charged