One hundred and sixty-four people poisoned by chlorine had been sent to hospital by 8 a.m. Monday in Yinchuan, capital of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, where liquefied chlorine gas leaked out from a chemical company on Sunday evening.

Yao Chengli, president of the Yinchuan No.1 People's Hospital, received a phone call at 9 p.m. Sunday, in which the caller suspected that the pungent smell in the air of the Xixia district of Yinchuan could be chlorine.