The remains of five workers who had gone missing in Wednesday's explosion in the Daqing Petrochemical Subcompany, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, were found inside a jar of liquid containing hydrogen sulfide, rescuers said Saturday.

 

Rescuers found five bodies Friday when they went inside the jar wearing gas masks after the jar had been fully drained up and cleaned up.

 

The bodies were later confirmed to be the five maintenance workers who had gone missing after the explosion.

 

The explosion was resulted from a fire ignited by a glitter accidentally at 9:44?AM Wednesday when seven workers were doing repairs atop the jar inside the sulfur recycling workshop of the oil refinery. Two of them died on the spot, with the five others missing.

 

The fire was put out some 70 minutes later.

 

Investigation is still underway for the cause of the accident, and local environmental workers are monitoring the concentration of hydrogen sulfide in the air in the areas adjacent to the site of the accident in order to prevent local residents from being poisoned.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 30, 2004)