The last group of the more than 12,000 people who were evacuated
from their village in southwestern Sichuan Province, has returned home after a
ruptured gas well was successfully capped on Wednesday.
The Qingxi No. 1 Gas Well began leaking on Dec. 21, at Qingxi
Town of Xuanhan county forcing 12,380 nearby residents to leave
their homes. To prevent poisoning the gas was ignited shooting out
huge flames that lit up the night skies for weeks.
The last group of 994 villagers, who live within a 500 meter
radius of the well, began to return home on Thursday morning. Many
had been living in hotels in the town of Qingxi about two
kilometers from the well, said Li Ke, the head of Sanhe
Township.
Some of the villagers who lived further away from the well were
allowed to return home on Dec. 24.
Zhang Darong, a Sanhe villager, was relieved to be back in his
home on Thursday morning. He had been living with relatives.
"Nothing is better than being in my own home. Everything in the
house is intact" said the 46-year-old, adding that he had received
10 yuan (US$1.28) from the government to cover the cost of
transportation. It's expected the villagers will receive further
compensation but there are no reports on how much that might
be.
After two failed attempts the China Petrochemical Corporation
(Sinopec Group), which owns the well, successfully capped the gas
well in the mountainous county on Wednesday.
The well was capped using 1,100 cubic meters of mud and 400
cubic meters of cement. Fires around the well have all been
extinguished, according to Chen Tonghai, general manager of
Sinopec.
Local officials report no casualties from the gas leak.
Two attempts to cap the well on Dec. 24 and Dec.27 failed.
Xuanhan County, about 500 kilometers to the northeast of
Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, is on of China's major sources of
natural gas.
The Qingxi No. 1 Gas Well is a test well being drilled by
Sinopec Southern Prospecting and Development Branch and is designed
to reach a depth of 5,620 meters.
(Xinhua News Agency January 5, 2007)
