Excessive methane gas in an underground sewer set off a series of blasts early Tuesday morning, killing three people in the southern urban area of southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, it is claimed.
Although the Nan'an District government's publicity department said the cause of the blasts is still being investigated, a district environmental official confidently ruled out human involvement.
"Based on the evidence we have collected, we believe the blasts were caused by excessive methane accumulated in the sewer of the Sigongli Agricultural Product Market," said the official, who did not reveal his name.
At 12:25 am, a deafening blast woke up the neighborhood in the Sigongli market, the biggest in the Nan'an District.
Another four explosions followed in about the next two hours, causing a large fire and destroying dozens of buildings.
"It is an inferno on earth," the Chongqing Evening Post website quoted an anonymous resident in the area as saying.
Nan'an District government publicity official Luo Jiayu said the bulk of the rescue operation had finished by 5 pm with no more casualties reported.
After a short break yesterday, most local firemen were expected to be on watch last night.
"Because the area's complicated underground sewer system still imposes a danger not to be neglected," the unnamed district environmental official said.
Liu Ying, an administrative official with the Chongqing Rubber Factory, which is based near the Sigongli market, said the blasts caused heavy losses to the factory.
"Our living quarters for staff and workers caught on fire during the blasts, with several people getting burnt," Liu said yesterday.
"We had to stop production to thoroughly inspect our equipment and facilities as the explosions affected several of our manufacturing sites. We're not sure when we can restart the operation again."
Besides the factory, the market and most of the neighborhood was closed yesterday.
The district government is expected to consider distributing money and materials to help those who have been affected by the blast.
A thorough checkup of agricultural markets in the Nan'an District will be carried out in the near future, removing accumulated rubbish from the ground and underground sewers.
The Nan'an District has more than 10 agricultural markets attracting thousands of people each day.
(China Daily September 11, 2002)
|
