Gas well blowout evacuates 770 people
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-10-02 10:39
At least 770 people were evacuated Sunday night after a gas well leakage in
southwest China's Yunnan Province, though no casualties were reported, the local
government confirmed early on Monday.
The blowout occurred at 7:25 p.m. at a farm in Luliang County, about 150
kilometers east of the provincial capital Kunming, said a spokesman of the
county's publicity department.
A drilling company based in the neighboring Sichuan Province was digging for
a gas well on the Huaqiao Farm, about five kilometers from Luliang's county
seat, when natural gas blew out 15 meters high, the spokesman said.
Emergency measures were taken and residents living within one kilometer to
the blowout well were immediately evacuated.
Company sources estimated 90 percent of the blowout was methane and the rest
included dust, water and nitrogen.
No fire broke out following the leakage.
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