Gas field workers have ignited a leaking gas well at Gaoqiao Town in Kaixian County, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, on Saturday morning.

The local government has evacuated 5,000 people who lived within one kilometer from the gas well.

No injuries have been reported. Rescuers are hoping to be able to cap the well on Sunday.

The gas well is within the vicinity of Luojia No. 16H Gas Well, where a deadly gas blowout killed 243 people on Dec. 23, 2003.

The well began to leak during final tests which were being conducted to bring the just-finished well into production.

Gas field workers also notice that a section of a river that is just a kilometer from the well started to bubble on Saturday morning, according to Sichuan Provincial Petroleum Administration.

The local government has warned people on the lower reaches not to drink water from the river. Gas workers are monitoring the bubbling river.

As a safety precaution, the drilling company decided to ignite the leaking gas well to avoid the possibility of a build-up of pressure and an explosion.

The administration also reported that the gas leaking out from the river contains methane, but not deadly sulfureted hydrogen which killed many of the people who died in the 2003 blowout, according to the Administration.

The well, Luojia No. 2 Gas Well, is about 3,400 meters deep. Chuandong Drilling Company was operating at the well when the accident occurred.

(Xinhua News Agency March 26, 2006)