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Workers ignite the escaping gas
to avoid the possibility of a buildup and explosion near the Luojia No. 2
gas well hit by a gas leakage in Gaoqiao Town in Kaixian County, southwest
China's Chongqing Municipality, March 28, 2006. (Photo:
Xinhua) |
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Emergency workers have been
deployed near the Luojia No. 2 gas well hit by a gas leakage in Gaoqiao
Town of in Kaixian County, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, March
28, 2006. (Photo: Xinhua) |
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Local government workers monitor
the environmental quality near the Luojia No. 2 gas well hit by a gas
leakage in Gaoqiao Town in Kaixian County, southwest China's Chongqing
Municipality, March 28, 2006. (Photo:
Xinhua) |
Backup plan to cap gas well delayed
BEIJING, March 29 -- Efforts to cap the gas well that
started leaking in Kaixian County in Chongqing Municipality on Saturday morning
were postponed until today.
The backup plan, which followed unsuccessful attempts
to cover the well on Monday, was scheduled to commence on Tuesday but was
postponed because geological conditions around the leakage site were so
complicated.
Experts from the China National Petroleum Corporation
(CNPC) held a meeting on Monday evening and decided to spend more time working
out a more detailed plan to deal with all possibilities, said Li Luguang,
general manager of the CNPC's Southwest Oil and Gas Field Corporation.
"We will implement a revised plan if the second
attempt at controlling the leak is unsuccessful," said Li, whose corporation
maintains the leaking well in Kaixian.
The second plan aims to seal-off the source of gas at
the bottom of the well, which is 3,400 metres deep.
"Several leakages have been found within a
1-square-kilometre area of the leaking well. The only way we can solve the
problem is to use cement to cap the source of gas," an expert from the CNPC told
China Daily.
On Monday, the well was filled with 186 tons of
cement, he said.
The leaking gas is mainly methane, unlike the
sulfureted hydrogen that came from the December 2003 leakage in Kaixian, which
killed 243 people.
Nobody outside the danger zone, which was within a
0.5-kilometre radius of the leaking well, needed to be evacuated, said Jiang
Youyi, Kaixian party chief.
Most of the 10,000-plus evacuated residents have gone
to stay with their relatives, while some 4,300 are living in the eight locations
provided by the county government, Jiang said.
The county government has provided over 1,000 beds in
hotels in the county to accommodate the old, weak, sick and handicapped. Some
400 people are living in hotels, he said.
More than 4,000 students in Kaixian have been
affected as classes were suspended following the gas leak.
One high school and two primary schools in Gaoqiao
Town, where the leakage took place, have been closed and another three high
schools are being used to accommodate evacuees, said Jiang Bocheng, chief of the
Kaixian County Education Committee. "We will try our best to resume classes for
those in third grade at junior high school today, as they will take senior high
school entrance exams soon."
Departments in charge of environmental protection in
Chongqing have set up five stations near the site of the leakage to monitor the
air and water.
(Source: China Daily)
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