Twelve people were killed and two others sickened in an outdoor tent gas poisoning which occurred in northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region early Wednesday.

The accident took place inside a tent built in the open air inside Xiamale forest farm, Bachu County. The victims were workers who had been there digging licorice root, a medicinal herb used in traditional Chinese medicine for curing ailment including infection of upper respiratory tract, mucous expectoration and gastric disorders, said sources from the Kashi Prefectural Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

The sickened are still receiving medical treatment at a local hospital.

Further investigation into the accident is under way.

Bachu, more than 1,200 kilometers away from Urumqi, the regional capital, is situated at the northwestern rim of the Tarim Basin.

(Xinhua News Agency, December 6, 2007)