CHONGQING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The third attempt to seal the leaking gas well in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality has ended early Friday, according to the headquarters dealing with the accident.

    The capping efforts ended around 6 a.m. on Friday and the workers have been closely watching the effects, said a source coordinating the technical problem of the capping.

    The third attempt was launched at 2 p.m. Thursday after the second attempt to seal the Luojia No. 2 well in Gaoqiao Town of Kaixian County was suspended late on Wednesday.

    Some 15,000 local residents living around the leaking gas well have been evacuated.

    No injuries have been reported from the incident. Workers have been burning off poisonous gas escaping from the well to prevent it collecting.

    The leak was discovered at the well belonging to the China National Petroleum Corporation's Sichuan Provincial Petroleum Administration Saturday morning.

    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.

    Ma Fucai, CNPC's former general manager, resigned in April 2004for his negligence in security measures that led to the deadly accident. Enditem