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
closing 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 December 23, 2003.
Ma Fucai, CNPC's former general manager, resigned in April 2004 for his
negligence in security measures that led to the deadly
accident.