Chinese village suffers second gas blast

There were no reports of deaths in the latest accident in Chongqing municipality early Saturday, although state media said the local river had been polluted and farmers expressed fears for their livestock.

The accident in Chongqing's Xiaoyang village was the same location as another gas leak in December 2003 that killed 243 people in one of the nation's deadliest industrial incidents.

Both accidents occurred in operations run by the Chuandong Drilling Company, which is owned by China's largest oil firm, the China National Petroleum Corporation.

CNPC confirmed in a statement on Monday the latest accident had happened but officials from the company refused to comment when contacted by AFP.

A broken pipeline leading to a gas well caused Saturday's blast, with local residents reporting hearing a "big bang" and seeing the nearby Gaoqiao river "rolling and foaming", the state-run Xinhua news agency said.