Gas well disaster kills 191
Saturday, 27 December 2003 12:00 AM
About 1,500 rescue workers are still searching for bodies and possible survivors after a gas well disaster in China killed 191.
Nearly two hundred victims died on Tuesday after inhaling toxic gas, released after an explosion at the natural gas well in Chongqing, in the south-west of the country.
The lethal gas - sulphurated hydrogen - continues to leak from the well and has spread across an area of 15 square smiles.
Emergency teams have set the well alight to burn off the gas as a temporary measure.
More than 40 thousand people have been evacuated, according to local officials.
Local media have called the area, the "death zone."
Chinese President Hu Jintao has pledged to do everything possible to speed up the search and rescue operation.
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