Gas Leak Resented by Chinese Villagers By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN:

Investigators blamed the disaster on a gas buildup caused by a negligent technician who failed to operate drilling tools properly.

A pressure regulator would have caught the problem, but it had been removed. Still, the gas could have been ignited and burned off before reaching homes, but no one did so.

"No one knew who was authorized to do it," the well engineer said. It was finally set afire 18 hours later, sending huge flames shooting into the sky.

Six members of the drilling crew have been arrested and charged with criminal negligence.

Workers hesitated in reporting the accident, and a lack of breathing equipment kept rescuers away. The landscape abetted the killing, trapping gas in deep valleys and channeling it through stream beds to homes.

243 died and more than 9,000 injured. It sounds like a systemic managment problem to me, or maybe I should say a systemic problem.