Fifteen workers conducting exploration fieldwork were killed in
a heavy snowstorm on Friday afternoon in Haixi Prefecture in
northwest China's Qinghai
Province, according to the prefecture's safe production
supervision administration.
The 15 victims were workers with the Qinghai Oil Exploration No.
217 Team, which belongs to the Eastern Oil Exploration Company,
part of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).
On May 13, more than 70 oil explorers divided into eight groups
were operating in the field in the Mangya Township of the
prefecture when they were hit by a heavy snowstorm and sandstorm
simultaneously.
The exploration team immediately ordered a withdrawal of the
workers. However, not all of the workers could be mobilized due to
the wide area of operations and low visibility.
Rescuers found?six dead workers at various operation sites
at 2:00 AM on May 14. By press time, a total of 15 workers were
found dead and 13 others injured in the snowstorm, which was
described as "freak" because it occurs only once every 100
years.
Rescue operations and investigations continue.
In related news, continuous torrential downpours in the northern
and central parts of east China's Fujian
Province that lasted from May 13 to 15 killed nine people.
Eight others are missing, according to the provincial flood and
drought prevention and control headquarters.
Heavy rainstorms with maximum rainfall of 124 mm hit 20
counties, districts and cities in the province from Friday to
Sunday, affecting a total population of over 420,000.
Nine people were killed, 740 others were wounded and eight have
been reported missing in the disaster. Some 1,563 hectares of
farmland and 3,240 houses were also destroyed.
The provincial government and various local authorities are
organizing rescue and disaster-relief work.
Meanwhile, nine people were reported missing when a fishing boat
capsized early Monday morning off Dalian, a coastal city in
northeast China's Liaoning
Province. This is according to the Ministry of Communications'
Beihai Rescue Bureau.
The fishing boat capsized at 1:00?AM on Monday in north
China's Bohai Sea area at around 122 degrees east longitude and 38
degrees north latitude. All nine fishermen on board are
missing.
Preliminary investigations showed that the vessel belonged to
Zhuanghe City (county level) under the jurisdiction of Dalian,
whose last contact with the boat owner was at about 1:40?AM on
Monday when he sent a distress signal.
In
Taiwan, floods caused by torrential rains have left five people
dead and another four are missing.
The torrential rains started last Thursday.
According to a casualty report released on Monday, the body of a
Taipei County man, identified as Chiang Chang-yu, 38, was found on
Sunday night after he was reported missing.
According to his family, he had gone out to move his car from a
parking lot that was on a flood channel to a safer place but never
returned.
In Nantou County, dozens of firefighters and members of private
rescue teams are searching for three employees of a bicycle parts
company who went missing in the mountains last Thursday.
In Hsinchu County, local fire departments mobilized over 50
personnel on Monday to search for a missing construction worker who
failed to escape a flood that deluged a bridge he was working on
last Thursday.
Also in Taiwan, a fire in Taichung City on Monday morning left
six people injured, according to a Television Hong Kong
report.
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(Xinhua News Agency May 17, 2005)