The third attempt to seal the leaking gas well in southwest
China's Chongqing Municipality ended early Friday,
according to the management team dealing with the incident. .
The capping work ended around 6?AM on Friday and those
involved have been?? watching the situation closely, said
a source involved in coordinating the technical aspects of the
work.
The third attempt started at 2 AM Thursday after the second
effort 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
had been evacuated.
No casualties have been reported from the incident and poisonous
gas escaping from the well is being burnt off.?
The leak was discovered at the well, which belongs to the China
National Petroleum Corporation's Sichuan Provincial Petroleum
Administration, Saturday morning.
The well is in the vicinity of the Luojia No.16H gas well where
a blowout killed 243 people in December 2003.
Ma Fucai, CNPC's former general manager, resigned in April 2004
for his negligence in security measures which led to the deadly
accident.
(Xinhua News Agency March 31, 2006)