Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality is ready to detonate on Sunday the remaining three chlorine gas storage tanks at the city's Tianyuan Chemical Plant, where a chlorine gas leak and blasts took place Friday.

The accident killed seven people and injured three others. Morethan 150,000 residents have been evacuated from the areas surrounding the plant as toxic fumes from the chlorine leak filledthe air.

To prevent the remaining furnaces from continuing leaking chlorine gas, the city has decided to detonate them by Sunday noon,according to local officials.

A crew of 160 from the municipal fire brigade have been arranged in preparation for the upcoming furnace denotation. About3,000 policemen have been motivated to keep order in areas around the site.

After the gas leak and blasts, the municipal envoironmental protection administration and water supply group have kept monitoring the air and water quality of Chongqing. Sources with them say that on Sunday morning, the air quality was normal and nothing abnormal was found in the downstream section of the Jianglingjiang River near the chemical plant.

Violations of operating rules by workers and outdated furnaces could be blamed for the chlorine leak and explosions, sources say.

Source: Xinhua