Rescue teams and technicians were on Friday feverishly working to contain the spread of toxic fumes after a blowout at a natural gas field left at least 191 people dead and hundreds more injured.
Under a sky darkened by fires lit to curb the spread of the silent killer, about 260 cubic metres of concrete will be pumped into the well on Friday morning to contain the sulfurated hydrogen from the Chuandongbei gas field in southwest Chongqing municipality.
Dozens of fire trucks and emergency equipment were on standby for the operation, which was expected to get under way after the China National Petroleum Corporation, which operates the gas field, worked out a detailed programme.
”We will see whether we can curb the natural gas from further escaping three hours after the operation,” Qian Zhijia, deputy head of Chuandongbei gas field, was quoted as saying by the Xinhua news agency.
The confirmed death toll stood at 191 at 3.30am on Friday following the blowout late on Tuesday, and casualty figures are expected to rise as special teams comb villages in the mountainous region around the gas field.
”We haven’t heard this morning the latest casualty figures,” said Gaoqiao township official Wang Ruxiang, in Kai County, about 340km northeast of Chongqing where the tragedy happened.
”About 1 000 rescue workers have been sent to villages to check on this.”
The poisonous gas hovering in the air made an area of 25 square kilometres a death zone, with many villagers intoxicated by the fumes in their sleep, said the China Daily, which described the tragedy as the worst industrial accident in China’s history.
”Many young people have gone out to work in faraway cities, leaving behind the elderly and kids at home who could not act swiftly to seek safety,” said Pan Benqing, an official with a hospital in Zhonghe Town.
About 290 people, mostly children, were hospitalised and four of them were still in critical condition on Friday, while about 3 000 local people were reported to have sulfurated hydrogen symptoms such as conjunctivitis and colds, Xinhua said.
A doctor from the People’s Hospital of Kai County said the facility had been inundated with patients since Tuesday.
”From December 23 over 700 people have visited this hospital suffering symptoms of sulfurated hydrogen poisoning,” said the doctor, surnamed Chen.
”Currently 218 people remain here for treatment. Their symptoms are dizziness, vomiting and a feeling of suffocation. Many also have eye irritations.”
More than 41 000 villagers were forced to flee from the danger zone.
”Many people are living in schools and canteens. Some people are living in tents because there is just not enough room for them,” said the Gaoqiao township official.
The gas field has a capacity of 50-billion to 60-billion tons of natural gas and had experienced no previous problems, Xinhua said.
The cause of the accident was still being investigated although the news agency suggested a drilling mishap could be to blame.
Wu Jianong, Vice-Mayor of Chongqing, on Friday blamed poor transport and communications facilities for hampering evacuation efforts following the sudden eruption of gas on Tuesday.
”Only after we reduced the gas density by inflaming the toxic sulfurated hydrogen on Wednesday afternoon could we organise rescue workers to enter the scene,” he said.
Work safety is a major problem for China, with as many as 13 283 people dying in factories and mines from January to October this year, 9,6% more than in the same period of 2002, according to a recent report. — Sapa-AFP