 Many people suffered from the effects of the gas fumes |
China's authorities have started a clean-up operation after a burst gas well spewed toxic fumes killing 198 people, local media report. Officials are taking samples in the vicinity of the well located near the south-western city of Chongqing, Xinhua news agency said.
Nearly 10,000 people were taken to hospitals suffering from poisoning and burns following Tuesday's blast.
Engineers say they have now blocked the well with concrete.
'Zone of death'
It is still not clear when the tens of thousands of people forced to leave their homes will be able to return.
It was China's worst industrial accident - described by Chinese media as a "zone of death".
Engineers on Saturday pumped 480 cubic metres of concrete into the well to seal it. But they need to wait for the concrete to dry until they can be sure there are no more leaks.
The BBC's Francis Markus in Shanghai says the region's climate is very foggy and it could take some time for the sulphurous gas to dissipate.
The work to seal the well had been delayed on Friday as the rescue operation continued and because of safety concerns.
Emergency teams had set the well alight to burn off the poison gas as a stopgap measure.
 |  Go all out to rescue victims, prevent poisonous gas from spreading further and reduce casualties  |
Many of the confirmed dead are children or elderly people who were unable to flee after the explosion.
A local newspaper in Chongqing described peasants racing to get away after catching "a whiff of the smell of stinky duck eggs" - deadly sulphurated hydrogen.
Those who did not escape in time - including farm animals and fish - suffered burns to their skin and lungs from the gas.
A woman who lived within sight of the well described grabbing her five-year-old daughter and fleeing. "But by the time they reached safety, the girl had stopped breathing," the Chongqing Economic Times reported.
The same paper reported that a local merchant had saved 400 people by making 20 trips in his lorry to take people to safety.
Chinese President Hu Jintao has ordered the local authorities to do everything possible to speed up the search and rescue operation and prevent the sulphurous gas from spreading.
China is notorious for its dangerous working conditions.
An average of more than 10,000 people a month died in work-related accidents from January to September this year.
That figure is a 9% rise from the same period last year - despite a government campaign to improve work safety conditions.
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