Thousands of people in south-west China, who were evacuated after a weekend gas explosion, remained unable to return home on Tuesday with dangerous gas still leaking, officials said.
The explosion on Saturday in Chongqing municipality led to the evacuation of 11 500 people from villages near the site of the leak at a gas well owned by a subsidiary of China’s largest oil firm, China National Petroleum Corporation.
Authorities had not been able to seal the leak as quickly as hoped, leaving the evacuees stranded, government officials said.
“Geological conditions around the leakage site are so complicated that we need to spend more time to work out a more detailed plan,” the state-run Xinhua news agency quoted a government official as saying.
About 300 workers tried to fill the pit with cement and lime on Monday but the operation had to be stopped as the pressure of the gas at the mouth of the well rose, the China Daily quoted a company source as saying.
A second plan to seal off the leaking well, scheduled for Tuesday morning, was postponed until Wednesday, Xinhua said.
Authorities do not want residents to return until the leak has been plugged, Chen Lin, a government official from Kaixian county, told Agence France-Presse.
“There are more than 7 000 residents in places that were designated to accommodate them,” Chen said. “They can’t go back home now; we still need to observe the situation for a time.”
Other than those staying with friends or family, most of the evacuees were crowded into five temporary shelters, including government auditoriums and schools.
Classes have been suspended for more than 4 000 students as three schools near the leakage site have been closed and another three are being used to house the evacuees.
Farmers had expressed fears on Monday for their livestock left behind during the evacuation.
A local river had also been polluted, state media said, although government and company officials insisted it had not been badly contaminated.
The accident happened in Kaixian county’s Gaoqiao town, the same area where a gas blast involving the same company killed 243 people in December 2003. — AFP