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Four people have been detained for allegedly spreading rumors about an impending explosion that triggered panic and led to the deaths of four and the injury of three others.

A local official in Xiangshui County, in East China's Jiangsu province, confirmed the detentions on Sunday.

The apprehensions followed mass panic in the county on Thursday after residents thought poisonous gas was leaking from a chemical plant in the Chenjiagang Chemical Industry Park. The plant's neighbors believed the leaking gas was about to explode.

More than 10,000 residents from four townships in the county started to flee the area at 2 am, leaving the streets in chaos.

During the exodus, a motor tricycle carrying at least 10 people crashed into a river, killing four and injuring three.

People started to return home after the local government sent out a text message and made announcements via websites, the television and radio stations at 6 am to say all was well.

Some residents doubted the statement and said an unusual pungent odor hung over the area that morning, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Local officials said during a press conference on Sunday that the rumor had begun with a local worker who called his friends and advised them to leave after he saw a chemical plant emitting a gas that he thought was poisonous.

Two of the four suspects are under criminal detention while the other two are under administrative detention.

Some people are also being investigated for spreading the rumor, Zhou Houliang, a spokesman for the county government, told China Daily on Sunday.

"We will make more effort to educate the residents about how to react properly in an emergency, as well as giving them safety information about the chemical plants," Zhou said, adding all of the local chemical plants were operated safely.

However, some observers said the industry's history understandably led some to fear the worst.

The chemical park where the incident happened has been the scene of two recent tragedies. In November, more than 30 people were poisoned when chlorine leaked from Jiangsu Dahe Chlor Alkali Chemical Company. And in November 2007, the Jiangsu Lianhua Technology Company exploded, killing eight people.

"It's not right to put all the blame on local people for spreading the rumor because the residents' panic came largely from the previous two accidents," said Hu Shoujun, a sociologist from the Shanghai-based Fudan University.

"It was natural for the residents, who barely have any knowledge of the chemical plants, to flee when they felt their lives were in danger."

Hu suggested that the plants should report their operating conditions to the local government on a regular basis and said the government should then publish the information for the public.

"The plants' production safety is not only related to the plants themselves but also to the lives and property of all the people living nearby," he said.

Questions:

1. What started the mass panic?

2. How many people fled?

3. What caused the death and injuries involved in the mass panic?

Answers:

1. False rumors of a gas leak about to explode.

2. 10,000.

3. A motor-tricycle carrying ten crashing into a river.

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（中国日报网英语点津 Helen 编辑）

Todd Balazovic is a reporter for the Metro Section of China Daily. Born in Mineapolis Minnesota in the US, he graduated from Central Michigan University and has worked for the China Daily for one year.