At least 3,500 locals were forced to evacuate, but no casualties reported in a liquefied petroleum gas leakage Thursday at a gas station that belongs to a chemical plant in the northwestern Shaanxi Province.

The gas station of the Shaanxi Provincial Chemical Co is located on the outskirts of Weinan city and has four villages of more than 3,500 people nearby, according to sources with the Weinan city government.

Witnesses say a LPG tank truck gas drove into the gas station at 0:40 a.m. Thursday and within 30 minutes, strong smell of gas was smelt in the air.

"We heard a hissing sound and the whole place became misty. We rushed out into the open air," said a worker with the gas station without giving his name.

Over 120 policemen and firemen were mobilized to help the locals evacuate, said Chen Xuemin, secretary-general with Weinan city government.

He said the gas had leaked from sand holes in the valve of the LPG tank.

By 6:00 am Thursday, technicians with the station had blocked the holes, and all the evacuees returned home at midday, Chen said.

(Xinhua News Agency June 25, 2004)