Five thousand people have been evacuated after a chlorine leak in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, officials with the local government said on Wednesday.

The leak occurred around 9:00 AM on Wednesday at a water plant in Yilan County, in east Harbin City, capital of Heilongjiang, said Zhao Changman, deputy chief of the county government.

Zhao said 2,000 students and teachers in a neighboring school and about 3,000 residents in the neighborhood have been evacuated.

Zhao said so far he did not know whether any people have been hospitalized.

Fire-fighters have arrived at the scene to try to cap the leak.

(Xinhua News Agency April 25, 2007)