The State Council set up a leading group on Saturday to investigate into the gas well blowout that occurred Tuesday night in Kaixian County,in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

The group is led by Wang Xianzheng,director of the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS).Its deputy leaders include Chongqing Mayor Wang Hongju and Vice Mayor Wu Jianong,Vice Minister of Supervision Chen Changzhi,Vice Director of the Commission for Supervision and Management of State-owned Properties Shao Ning,and SAWS Vice Director Sun Huashan.

The group is authorized to find out the cause of the accident,casualties and property losses,and those who are responsible for the accident.It should also work out measures to prevent similar accidents from happening,punishment for those responsible,examine whether emergent measures have been taken,and submit an investigation report to the State Council.

The tragedy,described as "unprecedented,"occurred on Tuesday night,when a natural gas well at the Chuandongbei gas field in Kaixian,some 337kilometers northeast of Chongqing,blew out suddenly,killing 198people and poisoning over 9,000others.

"It is a rarely bad accident in history,"said SAWS spokesman Huang Yi."We must learn a lesson from it."