Hospitalized victims of Japanese chemical weapons rise to 35 ( 2003-08-12 08:49) (Xinhua)
The number of people
hospitalized after exposure to the mustard gas from chemical weapons abandoned
by Japanese troops in northeast China in World War II rose to 35 by Monday
afternoon.
Feng Jiayuan, an 11-year-old school girl at the No. 2 Heping Primary School
in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang province, was sent to the No. 203 Hospital of the
People's Liberation Army in the city Monday afternoon.
Feng walked past a plot of land tainted by chemical weapons on August 4. Her
feet blistered the following day and she was later confirmed a victim of the
mustard gas poisoning and transferred to the army hospital Monday afternoon.
Five metal barrels were dug out at a construction site in Qiqihar on August
4. One was accidentally broken on the spot and an oil-like material leaked out
and infiltrated the soil. The drums were bought by two itinerant workers, who
broke another two of the containers, causing more leakage.
Chemical weapon experts later confirmed the material as mustard gas, and that
the barrels were chemical weapons left by the Japanese army during World War II.
Local anti-chemical warfare soldiers disinfected all 11 polluted sites,
sealed up all the contaminated soil and transported it to the warehouse with the
abandoned chemical weapons.
The city lifted quarantine on the 11 polluted sites on Monday morning and
local life has returned to normal. Enditem