A recent fatal gas leak that claimed three lives in an outskirt district in Beijing metropolitan has resulted from the violation of operation rules on the part of workers, a senior safety official said Friday.

Li Jianwei, director of the Beijing Production Supervision and Management Bureau, drew the conclusion at a work meeting on safe production of dangerous chemicals on Friday.

The accident occurred at about 18:00 on April 20 when hydrogen cyanide gas leaked out from sewage liquids in a gold smelter in the district of Huairou. Three people died of poisoning, and 10 others were poisoned and hospitalized, one of whom seriously.

According to Li, workers at operation failed to add enough alkali for neutralization while processing sewage liquid, which constituted "a serious breach of rules and working procedures" and incurred the turnout of a large amount of toxic hydrogen cyanide.

Three workers on duty all left for their meals at the time, with no inspector around watching on for any possible mishaps as the relevant work rules stipulated. The three workers at operation died of poisoning as they had worn no gas masks after hydrogen cyanide gas leakage, Li said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 1, 2004)