A rescue worker (R) checks his sulfureted hydrogen detector before the rescue operation at Luojia No. 2 Gas Well in Gaoqiao Town in Kaixian County, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, on March 26, 2006. (Photo: Xinhua)

    CHONGQING, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Workers started to shut down the Luojia No. 2 gas well hit by a gas leakage in Gaoqiao Town of Kaixian County, Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, at 10:00 Monday morning.

    More than 10,000 residents living within one kilometer of the well were evacuated and workers have earlier ignited the escaping gas to avoid the possibility of a buildup and explosion.

    The leak was discovered at the well belonging to the CNPC's Sichuan Provincial Petroleum Administration on Saturday morning. No casualty has been reported.

    The gas well is within the vicinity of the Luojia No. 16H Gas Well, where a deadly gas blowout killed 243 people on Dec. 23, 2003. Enditem

Emergency measures in place to stop gas leak in Chongqing    

    CHONGQING, March 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Emergency measures are being taken to close the well hit by a gas leak in a southwestern Chinese town, a senior official with the well's owner China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) said Sunday.

    Liao Yongyuan, assistant to the general manager of the CNPC group, said that plans are being improved to cap the Luojia No.2 gas well at Gaoqiao Town in Kaixian County, Chongqing Municipality.

    Liao said the oil company is working with the local government to handle the incident. Headquarters have been established under the leadership of deputy mayor Zhou Mubing.

    The leak was discovered at the well belonging to the CNPC's Sichuan Provincial Petroleum Administration on Saturday morning. No casualties have been reported.

    A 10-meter flame burned at the mouth of the well, and five to six water columns are bursting along a 100-meter section of the bank of the Gaoqiao River in the town.

    The gas leak area has been cordoned off. About 500 cubic meters of high-density slurry and 300 tons of cement have been trucked to the site.

    Materials and equipment have been prepared, and the capping of the well will start as soon as the experts from the CNPC and the State Administration of Work Safety give the plan the go-ahead, said Xu Huafang, director of the Sichuan Provincial Petroleum Administration.

    The local government has evacuated 10,000 people who lived around the gas well to adjacent townships or five downtown places that were designated to accommodate them.

    No hydrogen sulphide has been detected in the air or water within 3 km of the well, according to CNPC technicians and local environmental experts. Enditem