  Gas leaked from natural gas well is 
 ignited to reduce the danger and to prepare for capping the leak in 
 Xuanhan, Sichuan province December 22, 2006. [Xinhua] 
   | 
XUANHAN, Sichuan: Roughly 1,000 villagers remain displaced after being driven 
from their homes by a gas leak that started last Thursday in Qingxi Town, 
Xuanhan County, in the eastern part of Southwest China's Sichuan Province. 
A gas well operated by China Petrochemical Corporation started leaking at 
around 7:00 pm on Thursday, leading to the evacuation of some 12,380 villagers 
living within a 1-kilometre radius of the site. 
About 3 hours after the leak started, officials from the corporation ignited 
the gas to reduce pressure building up in the well. 
"After the gas was ignited, we did not find any sulphureted hydrogen or 
sulphur dioxide in the air at the site of the leak. Nor was there any water 
pollution," said Liu Yuanbo, chief of the Xuanhan Environmental Monitoring 
Station. 
As a result, the county government yesterday permitted villagers outside a 
500-metre radius surrounding the leaking gas to return home. 
"Only some 1,000 villagers have not been able to return home," said Zhang 
Chongyao, an information officer in the county. 
Zhang told China Daily that the evacuees are living in government buildings, 
schools, hospitals and radio stations in Qingxi Town and neighbouring Sanhe 
Township. 
"We are provided with free room and board. Doctors are available around the 
clock in the makeshift shelter where we live," said Li Benhui, a 64-year-old 
farmer from Fulong Village in Qingxi Town. 
Wang Nengqiu, Xuanhan County magistrate, said the county government had set 
up an emergency fund of 100,000 yuan (US$12,700) to buy quilts, instant noodles 
and mineral water for the evacuees. 
More than 400 primary school students evacuated from their villages will 
return to school today, said Xu Daiqiu, chief of the publicity department of the 
county's Party committee. 
Zou Xiaoyan, a third-grader at Jin'e Village Primary School in Qinxi Town, 
told China Daily that she had not expected to return to school so quickly. 
"I am very happy," she said. 
Early yesterday workers failed to fill in the leaking well with about 200 
tons of cement. Officials from the corporation were weighing their options last 
night, but no back-up plans had been implemented as of press time yesterday. 
The eastern part of the Sichuan Basin abounds in natural 
gas reserves.