Death zone left after Chinese poisoning

Fumes from a burst gas well that killed at least 191 people left a “death zone” of Chinese villages strewn with bodies of adults and children, some overcome as they tried to flee the clouds of poison.

Gas spewed from the well today in the Chongqing region in the south-west as technicians prepared an emergency effort to seal it with concrete.

They were supposed to make the attempt today but put it off to Saturday as rescue officials focused on rushing food and water to 41,000 evacuees living in schools and government buildings.

More than 9,000 people were treated for gas poisoning and other injuries, and 431 remained in hospital – 17 in critical condition, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Many were children with red faces and their eyes inflamed from chemical burns.

The gas well burst on Tuesday in the remote mountain town of Gaoqiao, releasing a cloud of natural gas and hydrogen sulphide.

Xinhua said the disaster occurred when a drilling accident broke open a gas well.

“The poisonous gas hovering in the air made an area of 10 square miles a death zone, as many villagers were intoxicated by the fumes in their sleep,” the China Daily newspaper said.

Hardest-hit was the village of Xiaoyang, adjacent to the gas field.

A reporter for the Shanghai Morning Post newspaper wrote of seeing at least six bodies lying beside homes and in fields.

The bodies of a 12-year-old boy and his mother were found on a road, apparently trying to escape, the newspaper said.

Dead chickens, pigs, owls and dogs were strewn around the village, many with white foam in their nostrils.

Newspaper photos showed rescue workers dressing the body of an old man who lay face up in an onion patch.

A merchant in Xiaoyang was credited with saving 400 people, using his truck to make 20 trips carrying them away from the gas.

One woman who lived 300 yards from the well described being choked by foul-smelling gas and hearing neighbours shouting that it had exploded, the newspaper said.

She ran away with her five-year-old daughter, it said, ”but by the time they reached safety, the girl had stopped breathing.”

The death toll was high even by the standards of accident-plagued Chinese industry, where thousands of people are killed every year in coal mine explosions and other disasters.

Two of those killed were gas field employees, while the rest were residents of the surrounding area, Xinhua said.

Gas pouring from the well kept rescue workers from entering the area until Thursday, when they found scores of bodies.

Teams were combing the area today for bodies and possible survivors.

“Poor transport and communications facilities hampered the timely evacuation of all people from nearby areas,” said Chongqing Vice Mayor Wu Jianong.

China is in the midst of a government campaign to reduce its high rate of workplace deaths. But despite the crackdown, the number of reported fatalities in industrial accidents jumped by 9% in the first nine months of this year.