Sedgefield man says Tianjin is 'like a ghost town'

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A British man living in the Chinese city of Tianjin has described it as a "ghost town".

Residents have been evacuated from within a two-mile (3km) zone around the site of Wednesday's huge explosions in an industrial estate warehouse housing hazardous chemicals.

More than 100 people were killed and 700 injured.

Roy Keld, from Sedgefield, said people had been advised to wear masks but had been given little official information.

"The area where we live now is pretty much like a ghost town and anybody who is there is wearing protective safety masks," he said.

"We've been warned if it rains to wear long-sleeved clothes, long trousers, that kind of thing, and use an umbrella.

"So they're pretty worried about what could come out of the sky if it does rain.

"It's going to be crazy for a long time, I think."

Mr Keld, a mechanical engineer, lives near the blast site with his Chinese wife and son but they are now staying at a hotel about 20 miles (30km) away.

He said people were angry and frustrated at the lack of information.

"That's pretty much China all over - they don't tell you unless they really have to," he said.

"There's a lot of frustration with the general public who were actually involved in what's going on.

"There's a lot of people just living in schools at the moment, and tents. It's a very densely populated area. So where do you put people?"

Mr Keld has lived in China for six years and works for UK company Heat Tech Tooling, which is based about 25 miles (40km) from the blast site and has been unaffected.

The magnitude of the first explosion was the equivalent of detonating three tonnes of TNT, while the second was the equivalent of 21 tonnes, the China Earthquake Networks Centre said.