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With the rapid development of the Internet, an emergency of the leakage of hazardous chemicals into rivers arouses wide-ranging social instability in terms of public panic, in addition to the physical damage. Considering the important role of the online community system, this paper explores a crisis information release strategy of the mass media for controlling public panic stemming from emergency events. In particular, a multi-agent-based simulation model is proposed for online public opinion dissemination during emergencies in China that includes four main agents: cyber citizens, opinion leaders, the government and mass media. Using four typical accidents of hazardous chemical leakage into rivers in China as case studies, interesting conclusions can be obtained. (1) The mass media plays an extremely crucial role in guiding public panic when emergencies occur by amplifying both the speed and range of online opinion dissemination. (2) If the government conceals the potential damage from the accident, the mass media should not follow the government or immediately deny the government, which might instigate a much larger-scale public panic. (3) If the government publishes the truth, the mass media can support the government to help promote the dissemination of online opinion and further mitigate public panic. (4) The mass media should carefully observe online public opinion and report the integrated result when most agents display positive emotions, thus largely pacifying panicking agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]