Overturned shipping containers after explosions hit the Binhai new district. Car tires were melted into the ground by the heat of the blasts and shipping containers were tossed across each other. Photo by Reuters.
At least 50 people died and more than 700 were injured in a series of massive explosions that ripped through warehouses in Tianjin, north-eastern China, shortly before midnight on Wednesday.
Between 300 and 400 injured people arrived at a single hospital in the aftermath, overwhelming health workers. More than 70 people were “critically injured” according to state media.
The blasts emanated from shipping containers in a warehouse for hazardous materials in an industrial district of the port city. There was increasing concern on Thursday over the safety of the blast area.
The warehouses stored an assortment of highly explosive chemicals including potassium nitrate – one of the main components of gun powder – according Beijing News. Other warehouses were storing more than 700 tonnes of sodium cyanide.
The second blast had a force equivalent to 21 tons of TNT, flattening everything in the area.
China’s industrial safety record is dismal. Last August a blast in a car parts factory in Kunshan, near Shanghai, killed more than 70 people. In July, 15 people were killed when a warehouse illegally storing fireworks exploded in Hebei province.