About 7,000 people have been evacuated from their homes after a leak was
discovered at a gas well in a southwest Chinese town where 243 people were
killed in an earlier gas leak, Xinhua and an official said Sunday. No injuries
were reported.
Workers at the gas field in Kaixian County near the city of Chongqing ignited
gas at the mouth of the well Saturday to avoid the possibility of a buildup and
an explosion, said a county official who would give only his surname, Xia.
About 7,000 people who were evacuated lived within one kilometer (0.6 mile)
of the well, state television said.
"There's no danger now," Xia said in a telephone interview.
He said workers were hoping to shut down the well Sunday and allow residents
to return home.
The incident occurred in the same mountain town of Gaoqiao in Kaixian County
where 243 people were killed in another gas leak in December 2003 _ one of the
country's worst industrial accidents.
That leak spewed a deadly cloud of natural gas and hydrogen sulfide over a 25
square kilometer (10 square mile) area. Many residents died in their sleep or
collapsed while trying to flee, leaving the area strewn with bodies.
About 9,000 people were hurt and more than 41,000 villagers were forced from
their homes around the Chuandongbei Gas Field northeast of Chongqing. Many
survivors suffered lung damage and burns on their eyes and skin.
Six employees of the Chuandong (East Sichuan) Drilling Co. were sentenced to
prison in 2004 for negligence.
The same company was operating the 3,400-meter (11,100-foot) deep well in the
latest incident, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
The leak was discovered during "final tests which were being conducted to
bring the just-finished well into production," Xinhua said. It did not give any
more details.
A man who answered the telephone at Chuandong said he wasn't clear on how or
where the leak had occurred. He said many workers were trying to shut down the
well. He refused to give his name.
Another official from Kaixian County said residents have also been warned
against drinking from a section of a nearby river, which started "rolling and
foaming" Saturday morning.
The official, who gave only his surname, Tan, said the water appeared to
contain methane, possibly one of the gases in the well. The water was being
monitored, Tan said.
He said a 200-meter (650-foot) area around the river had been cordoned
off.