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Arsenic poison hits 100 villagers in Guangxi

By Chen Jia (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-10-08 10:43

More than 100 villagers in Hechi city, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, fell ill after drinking water containing arsenic believed to have been discharged by a local plant, a health department official said Tuesday.

All the people affected in Xialuntun village have so far been discharged after hospital treatment, the official from the Guangxi health department, who declined to be named, told China Daily.

He said the incident occurred on Sept 29, and investigations showed that a river and a well in the village had been polluted with arsenic.

Many villagers began suffering from headaches swollen faces and blurred vision, Wei Baoqun, a villager was quoted by the Hongkong-basedTa Kung Pao as saying.

The local disease control and prevention center confirmed it was arsenic poisoning after urine tests, and a team of medical personnel has been sent to the village.

The government has suspended operations of a metallurgical plant, believed to have discharged the arsenic, into a nearby river, the newspaper said.

The plant is operated by the Liuzhou China Tin Group Co Ltd.

The local government transported safe drinking water to the affected villages and offered therapy to those sickened.

The government has promised to make public its investigation today.

There have been several incidents of people being poisoned by waste discharged by factories.

In 2006, emissions by a factory containing lead hospitalized more than 300 children and dozens of adults in Shuiyang town, Huixian county, Gansu province in Northwestern China.

In January this year, dozens of people in Huaihua, Hunan province, fell ill due to contamination of their water by a chemical plant.