A chlorine spill caused by a traffic accident
in the eastern province of Jiangsu, killing 28 people and
hospitalizing 350 others, has included accident workers
among its casualties due to poor safety standards.
A team led by Sun Huashan, deputy director of State
Administration of Production Safety, arrived in Huai'an early
yesterday morning to demand stricter safety standards after more
than ten workers had been poisoned and hospitalized.
Doctors in Huai’an said that 17
of those injured in Tuesday’s accident were seriously poisoned and
three remain in a critical condition.
About 10,000 residents have been resettled
during the clean-up work, in which caustic soda is being used to
counteract the chlorine in a pond dug by the roadside. The process
is expected to take two days and the area is under a 24-hour
surveillance.
The accident occurred at 6:50 PM when a tanker
carrying 30 tons of liquid chlorine blew a tire and rammed into a
cargo truck on the Huai'an section of the Beijing-Shanghai
expressway. Both vehicles overturned and the truck driver was
killed on the spot.
The other driver, Kang Zhaoyong, who initially ran
from the scene but later turned himself in, confessed that his
vehicle was only designed to carry a 15-ton load. By fleeing the
scene he is thought to have delayed rescue efforts.
Fumes from the spill spread to 11 nearby villages
and has seriously damaged 1,375 hectares of surrounding farmland,
killing crops including ripening wheat, rape and vegetables. Around
15,000 head of livestock were also lethally poisoned.
The accident has resulted inlosses of
at least 29 million yuan, according to clean-up workers on
Thursday.
Medical workers and chemical experts from Shanghai,
Nanjing and other cities have arrived to help with the treatment of
victims, and those in critical condition are under around-clock
intensive care.
Environmental protection workers are monitoring the
air and water quality over a 5-kilometer radius area to gauge when
villagers should be allowed to return home.
(China.org.cn, China Daily, April 1,
2005)
