A chlorine spill caused by a traffic accident in the eastern province of Jiangsu, killing 28 people and hospitalizing 350 others, has included accident workers among its casualties due to poor safety standards.
A team led by Sun Huashan, deputy director of State Administration of Production Safety, arrived in Huai'an early yesterday morning to demand stricter safety standards after more than ten workers had been poisoned and hospitalized.
Doctors in Huai’an said that 17 of those injured in Tuesday’s accident were seriously poisoned and three remain in a critical condition.
About 10,000 residents have been resettled during the clean-up work, in which caustic soda is being used to counteract the chlorine in a pond dug by the roadside. The process is expected to take two days and the area is under a 24-hour surveillance.
The accident occurred at 6:50 PM when a tanker carrying 30 tons of liquid chlorine blew a tire and rammed into a cargo truck on the Huai'an section of the Beijing-Shanghai expressway. Both vehicles overturned and the truck driver was killed on the spot.
The other driver, Kang Zhaoyong, who initially ran from the scene but later turned himself in, confessed that his vehicle was only designed to carry a 15-ton load. By fleeing the scene he is thought to have delayed rescue efforts.
Fumes from the spill spread to 11 nearby villages and has seriously damaged 1,375 hectares of surrounding farmland, killing crops including ripening wheat, rape and vegetables. Around 15,000 head of livestock were also lethally poisoned.
The accident has resulted in losses of at least 29 million yuan, according to clean-up workers on Thursday.
Medical workers and chemical experts from Shanghai, Nanjing and other cities have arrived to help with the treatment of victims, and those in critical condition are under around-clock intensive care.
Environmental protection workers are monitoring the air and water quality over a 5-kilometer radius area to gauge when villagers should be allowed to return home.
(China.org.cn, China Daily, April 1, 2005)
