About 40 residents in a city in northeast China were
hospitalized after a sulfur dioxide spill from a petrochemical
company, local government sources said on Wednesday.
The spill occurred around 9:00 AM Tuesday at the Jinzhou
Petrochemical Industrial Co. Ltd, in Liaoning Province, according to the Jinzhou
City Work Safety Administration.
The leak lasted ten minutes and five kilograms of sulfur dioxide
were released, the administration said.
All the residents who fell ill complained of pain in the throat
and chest, and were taken to nearby hospitals.
A two-millimeter crack on a pipe led to the spill, according to
the administration.
(Xinhua News Agency December 13, 2006)