China Puts 6 on Trial in Gas Leak Deat

China Puts 6 on Trial in Gas Leak Deaths

Jul 14 - Associated Press/AP Online

Six gas company employees went on trial Wednesday over a disaster that killed 243 people in December when a burst gas well spewed toxic fumes over mountain villages in China's southwest.

The Dec. 23 blowout near the city of Chongqing was one of China's deadliest industrial accidents. The cloud of natural gas and hydrogen sulfide left villages over a 10-square-mile area strewn with bodies and injured more than 9,000 people.

Investigators blamed the blowout on negligence by a drilling crew who they said dismantled equipment that would have contained the gas.

The trial in the Chongqing No. 2 Intermediate Court began Wednesday and was scheduled to last three days, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. It didn't give any details of the charges or possible penalties.

Xinhua said Tuesday that China's Cabinet concluded the accident was caused by "negligence and dereliction of duty," suggesting the defendants were almost certain to be convicted.

State television showed images of the six defendants standing in court facing a three-judge panel. They were dressed in yellow prison vests and flanked by guards. The brief report didn't give details of the trial's progress.

The disaster forced more than 41,000 villagers to flee rugged valleys around the Chuandongbei Gas Field northeast of Chongqing.

Many of those killed were caught in bed, while the acrid fumes cut down others on muddy roads as they tried to flee. Survivors suffered lung damage and burns on their eyes and skin.

The death toll was high even by the deadly standards of Chinese industry, where thousands of people are killed every year in accidents in mines and factories.

The highest-ranking employee on trial in Chongqing was Wu Hua, former deputy manager and chief engineer of the Chuandong (East Sichuan) Drilling Co., according to Xinhua.

The others were identified as Wu Bin, head of the drilling team; former gas field worker Xiao Xiansu; Wang Jiandong, a drilling engineer, and drillers Song Tao and Xiang Yiming.

The field was operated by a subsidiary of China's biggest oil company, state-owned China National Petroleum Corp.

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