One dead, hundreds sick after China chemical leak: hospitals

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2008

BEIJING (AFP) — At least one person died and hundreds fell ill in central China from drinking tap water tainted by a chemical leak, local hospitals said Thursday, amid reports over 1,000 people may have been poisoned.

Government officials in the county of Chenxi in Hunan province have acknowledged the leak from a chemical factory, saying 26 people had been poisoned, the Beijing News reported.

But local hospital staff told AFP several dozen had been treated, while the newspaper quoted hospitals and local residents saying more than 1,000 had been poisoned.

"We have 70-80 patients at our hospital at the moment, but during the day, we get about 700 to 800 people a day arriving with the symptoms," a staffer at the Chenxi People's Hospital, who gave only his...