9 killed, 150,000 evacuated after gas leak (Xinhua) Updated: 2004-04-16 22:57
At least nine people were killed on Friday by blasts in the wake of a
chlorine gas leak in Jiangbei District of southwestern Chongqing Municipality,
firefighters said.
Residents nearby
Chongqing Tianyuan Chemical Plant rush to a safe place after explosions
and a leak of chlorine gas occurred in the plant on
Friday. [newsphoto]
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Xinhua
reporters at the scene heard loud explosions at about 5: 57 pm from the Tianyuan
Chemical Plant, where the chlorine gas first started leaking around 7 pm on
Thursday.
The highly irritating, greenish-yellow
fumes could be smelled in areas about 300 metres from the
plant.
More than 150,000 residents have been moved out of areas within three kilometers surrounding the
plant. Inhalation of 2.5 milligrams of chlorine gas is enough to cause
death and symptoms of inhalation include bronchial spasms, dropsy and respiratory
difficulty.
Residents living near the scene had to be evacuated
again after they were temporarily allowed to return home, said Deputy Mayor Zhou
Mubing, who is directing rescue work at the scene.
Thousands of people were evacuated on Friday, officials and eyewitness
said.
All residents living within a kilometre of the spot and
some residents in an urban area facing the plant across Jialing River
were evacuated, the vice mayor said.
Firefighters estimated that at
least seven liquefied chlorine gas furnaces, with a load of 6 tons of liquefied
chlorine gas each, are letting off toxic fumes.
It was the
third chlorine gas leak at the plant since last year, said a worker at the
plant, who declined to be named.
Sources said the municipal government
planned to move the chemical plant with a force of about 2,000 workers from
downtown areas to Wanzhou District, a new city zone located in the Three Gorges
Reservoir area.
The pressure inside the chlorine
furnace has now been reduced to 0.25 kilograms per square centimetre from 1.5
kilograms per square centimetre after experts discharged half of the liquefied
chlorine in three furnaces.
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