Page added on July 1, 2014
A leaking oil pipeline caught fire in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian, forcing the evacuation of nearly 20,000 residents, a government oil company said Tuesday.
The pipeline was damaged by construction work at about 6:30 p.m. on Monday, allowing oil to flow into a sewage pipe, where it caught fire, China National Petroleum Corp. said in a statement. It said the oil burned for 25 minutes before being extinguished.
No deaths or injuries were reported. CNPC said 20,000 nearby residents were evacuated.
Five people from the construction company blamed for damaging the pipeline were detained by police while an investigation was underway, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
China has suffered a series of accidents involving leaking oil pipelines. In June 2013, a leaking oil tank in Dalian caught fire, killing four people, and an explosion caused by a leaking oil pipeline last November in the eastern port city of Qingdao killed 62 people.
Such incidents have fueled opposition to allowing oil-handling facilities in densely populated cities.
Members of the public have grown more alarmed about the proximity of oil lines to municipal utility lines, residential neighborhoods and commercial districts.
One Comment on "Chinese Oil Pipeline Burns, Thousands Evacuated"
Makati1 on Tue, 1st Jul 2014 10:19 pm
Coming to a location near you. Do you know where the closest oil or natural gas pipeline is? How old it is? You better find out if you don’t.
“Accidents” happen, as does sabotage.
Did you now that there are at least 2,500,000 MILES of them under US soil? That’s three round trips to the moon plus seven times around the equator. They tie-in homes, gas stations, oil depots, industry, power plants, oil and gas fields, etc.