An explosion at a chemical plant in eastern China killed at least 12 people on Friday and prompted the evacuation of 7 000 others, state media and officials said. Also on Friday, two unrelated explosions at another chemical plant and aboard an oil tanker injured at least five people, with two others missing and feared dead.
Electricity shortages were slowing attempts to clear a flooded mine shaft on Monday, and community members began to lose hope for 57 miners trapped for a fourth day in China’s worst mining accident this year. ”We must go all out to rescue these men. But we also need to start preparing for the worst,” said the mayor of the nearby city Datong.
Workers have abandoned a third attempt to cap a poisonous gas leak from a drilling site in south-western China that has forced the evacuation of almost 15 000 residents, state media reported on Thursday. Officials said they were struggling to raise supplies and funds for the evacuees, lending a note of urgency to the capping work.
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/ 29 November 2005
Officials declared water safe for drinking on Tuesday in a northern Chinese city where supplies to 3,8-million people were shut down for five days after a pollution scare in a nearby river, but residents remained wary about taking their first sips. Russian authorities are bracing for the toxic spill to reach the border within days.
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/ 4 November 2005
Quake survivors massed in debris-strewn fields to pray and mark a normally joyous Muslim festival in a somber tone on Friday as preachers called South Asia’s devastating earthquake a test of faith and punishment for wrongdoing. Former United States president Bill Clinton urged Pakistan and India to set aside their rivalry.
Thursday’s deadly bomb attacks in London won’t affect the city’s determination to stage a successful Olympics, the head of the British Olympic Association said on Friday. The blasts came hours after London won the right to host the Games, which prompted an outpouring of euphoria, quickly dampened by the tragic news.