text: Villagers from Shandong Province in eastern China have reportedly resorted to transporting natural gas in plastic bags. Recent images show intrepid residents from Lijin village in Dongying city carry the explosive in bags as long as six metres on rickshaws, reported the People’s Daily Online. Worried passers-by compared this behaviour to carrying a bomb on their backs because any contact with a naked flame or even a cigarette could spell disaster. Gas-guzzler: Carrying natural gas in huge plastic bags is a common scene in some villages in Shandong . Penny-pinching: Local media suggest this is a way for villages to save money on the transportation of gas . This reckless behaviour has been reported on as early as May 2011 in Zibo city in Shandong. It has since spread to different parts of the province. Netizens and media suggest this is a way for the locals to save money on transportation. Some suggest they are actually stealing gas. An earlier undercover investigation by Anhui Satellite TV Station shows that villagers in Zibo have little understanding of the dangers, claiming it to be safe. Unaware of danger: Previous investigation discovered that residents had little understanding of the hazards . The news clip documented villagers and even school pupils stealing gas from a large roadside container. Their plastic bags were inflated within minutes, and they carried them off before someone else came along to do the same. Villagers told the undercover reporter transporting gas this way isn't dangerous at all. Questions are now being raised within China about why the authorities have taken no steps to ban this practise after all these years. Unprotected: The gas bags are sealed in a basic manner. Passers-by worry they could spell disaster any time .
target: Villagers in Shangdong are seen using bags as long as six metres .
  It is becoming a common behaviour in some villages since 2011 .
  Previous investigation suggested gas in the bag are often stolen .
  Gas carriers have little understanding of dangers claiming it to be safe .