The third attempt to seal the leaking gas well in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality ended early Friday, according to the management team dealing with the incident. .

The capping work ended around 6 AM on Friday and those involved have been   watching the situation closely, said a source involved in coordinating the technical aspects of the work.

The third attempt started at 2 AM Thursday after the second effort to seal the Luojia No.2 well in Gaoqiao Town of Kaixian County was suspended late on Wednesday.

Some 15,000 local residents living around the leaking gas well had been evacuated.

No casualties have been reported from the incident and poisonous gas escaping from the well is being burnt off. 

The leak was discovered at the well, which belongs to the China National Petroleum Corporation's Sichuan Provincial Petroleum Administration, Saturday morning.

The well is in the vicinity of the Luojia No.16H gas well where a blowout killed 243 people in December 2003.

Ma Fucai, CNPC's former general manager, resigned in April 2004 for his negligence in security measures which led to the deadly accident.

(Xinhua News Agency March 31, 2006)