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50 people dead and nearby buildings turned into rubble in the Chinese port of Tianjin, after fiery blasts at a warehouse for hazardous chemicals erupted. This incident raised questions Thursday about whether the materials had been properly stored.
Hundreds of people were injured in the explosions shortly before midnight on Wednesday. The fire was supposedly so huge that it sent out massive fireballs that lit up the night sky and shattered windows several miles away.
Twelve of the dead were from among the more than 1,000 firefighters sent to fight the ensuing blaze. The municipal government in Tianjin, a key port and petrochemical processing hub said 701 people were injured, including 71 in serious condition.
However, there was no figure given for the missing. There was also no indication of what caused the blasts, and no signs of any toxic cloud in the air as firefighters brought the fire largely under control by morning.
The Tianjin government suspended further firefighting to allow a team of chemical experts to survey hazardous materials at the site and assess any dangers to the environment in order to decide how best to proceed.
State broadcaster CCTV went into a live broadcast of a news conference in Tianjin when the head of the municipality’s Environmental Protection Bureau chief, Wen Wurui, was speaking. According to authorities the explosion started at shipping containers in the warehouse owned by Ruihai Logistics, a company that says it stores hazardous materials including flammable petrochemicals, sodium cyanide and toluene diisocyanate.
The first explosion apparently triggered an even bigger one. The National Earthquake Bureau said the first blast was the equivalent of 3 tons of TNT, and the second 21 tons.
According to President Xi Jinping a severe punishment has been demanded for anyone found responsible for the explosions.
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