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Chinese Port City Tianjin Rocked by Enormous Explosion Chinese Port City of Tianjin Rocked by Enormous Explosion
(35 minutes later)
HONG KONG — An enormous explosion, possibly caused by a chemical leak, rocked China’s northeast port city of Tianjin late Wednesday, causing casualties and extensive damage, state news media reported. HONG KONG — An enormous fiery explosion thundered through a warehouse storing “dangerous goods” in China’s northeast port city of Tianjin late Wednesday, state news media reported, injuring dozens of people and inflicting extensive damage.
China’s central television network, the People’s Daily and the Xinhua news agency posted video clips of the blast, showing a huge flash of light like a fireball illuminating the darkness. The official Xinhua agency and other state-run news outlets posted graphic video clips of the blast, showing a fire and then a huge flash of light illuminating the darkness.
The news reports said at least 50 people had been injured in the blast, which appeared to emanate from either a gas station or storage terminal of hazardous chemicals. Many of the victims were taken to a local hospital. Electric power to the blast area was cut and streets were sealed off by the police. One amateur video posted on Twitter showed a person blown down by a wall of shattering glass and debris.
Xinhua said the blast originated in Tianjin’s Binhai district at around 11:30 p.m. and set off “further explosions in companies nearby.” The precise nature of the materials that exploded was not made clear.
“The shock waves were felt kilometers away, with some residents claiming their window glass and fish tanks shattered,” the agency said.
The Beijing News said on its website that between 300 and 400 people had been hospitalized, but that figure could not be immediately confirmed.
The fire department of the Tianjin Ministry of Public Security reported that at least 35 fire engines had been dispatched to the blast site to extinguish the fire and that at least four firefighters had been injured.
Earlier reports on state news media said the blast appeared to emanate from either a gas station or storage terminal of hazardous chemicals.
Electric power to the blast area was cut and streets were sealed off by the police.
Tianjin, a major industrial port of more than seven million on the Bohai Bay, is about 90 miles east of Beijing.