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)