Gas Blast Victims Struggle to Cope

Sitting in a temporary shelter in a government office, Xiong Qimei hugged her two sons and waited anxiously Saturday for word that they could return to their village after crews sealed a gas well in southwest China that spewed toxic fumes and killed at least 198 people.

Xiong’s family was among 41,000 people forced to flee their homes by the disaster that left villages strewn with corpses.

“I’m lucky I wasn’t injured,” said Xiong, 33, whose family was sharing a crowded family planning center with hundreds of evacuees. “But I miss my home. I feel like I’ve lost everything.”

Hundreds of police and soldiers continued searching the area Saturday for survivors and bodies, the government said.

Scientists, meanwhile, were measuring hazardous substances in water and on plants after crews plugged the well with tons of sealant, the government said. But it said people who lived within three miles of the gas field in the town of Gaoqiao in a remote, mountainous area northeast of the city of Chongqing, weren’t allowed to return yet.

Emergency crews spent two hours pouring sealant down the well but didn’t give any other details of the operation, the government said. Earlier reports said technicians were using earth-moving vehicles. Newspaper photos showed them wearing respirators and head-to-toe protective suits.

Although officials have said that light rains forecast over the next three days should help clear away the poison, the official New China News Agency, citing unidentified experts, warned that the rains also could make ground pollution worse.

There didn’t appear to be any danger of a new blowout, the news agency said, citing an industry expert.

Meanwhile, China’s Cabinet appointed a team of investigators led by the chief of the national industrial safety agency to determine the cause and who was responsible.

Earlier reports said a drilling mishap broke open the well at the Chuandongbei gas field.

The disaster was huge even by the standards of Chinese industry, which suffers thousands of deaths a year in coal mine explosions and other accidents.

“It was an accident of rare severity,” the news agency quoted a spokesman for the safety agency, Huang Yi, as saying. “We must learn a lesson from it.”

The news agency reported Saturday that a member of the paramilitary People’s Armed Police, Lt. Liao Yiquan, discovered the bodies of his uncle, aunt and niece. Later, Liao came across his father, who had been blinded by the gas. His mother was still missing.

In Dunhao, northwest of Gaoqiao, evacuees at the family planning center sat outdoors around coal fires. Dogs and chickens wandered the grounds, dodging trucks bringing blankets and food.

One room was a sea of straw and mattresses, where families gathered to sleep or keep warm under donated quilts.

Wu Yixiu, 56, said she walked for almost four hours out of a hilly area with her husband and infant grandson to escape.

“We were awakened by a noise that grew louder and louder. It smelled like manure,” Wu said. “I could not breathe. I could not see because of the tears in my eyes. I was holding my husband’s hand so he could lead me.”