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Deadly Explosions Hit China’s Port of Tianjin Deadly Explosions Hit China’s Port of Tianjin
(about 2 hours later)
TIANJIN, China — Thunderous fiery explosions at a warehouse of hazardous goods traumatized this northeast port city late Wednesday, killing at least 17 people, injuring hundreds, shattering glass on scores of high-rise buildings and causing other extensive damage. TIANJIN, China — Thunderous fiery explosions at a warehouse containing hazardous goods traumatized this northeast port city late Wednesday, killing at least 17 people, injuring at least 400, shattering glass on scores of high-rise buildings and causing other extensive damage.
The force of the blasts registered on earthquake scales in a region prone to them and were felt miles away. The force of the blasts registered on earthquake scales and was felt miles away.
An unidentified number of people were trapped in the wreckage, the Tianjin Police Department said in a statement. As of Thursday morning, an unknown number of people remained unaccounted for in the wreckage, the Tianjin Police Department said in a statement, and 32 of the injured were in critical condition, among them six firefighters.
The official Xinhua news agency and other state-run news outlets posted graphic video clips of the blasts, showing a fire and a huge flash of light that resembled a mushroom cloud illuminating the darkness. The official Xinhua news agency and other state-run news outlets posted graphic video clips of the blasts, showing a fire and a huge flash of light that resembled a mushroom cloud illuminating the darkness over Tianjin, a city of 14 million that is one China’s most important commercial trade centers.
Another video posted by People’s Daily showed a person blown down by a wall of shattering glass and debris. Another video posted by the state-run newspaper People’s Daily showed a person blown down by a wall of shattering glass and debris.
Xinhua said an initial blast originated at a warehouse in Tianjin’s Binhai District at around 11:30 p.m. and set off “further explosions in companies nearby.” “The air pressure from the blast was so strong it just knocked me down in one fell swoop,” said Han Tao, 30, a truck driver who lives on the 13th floor of a building just over a mile from the site of the explosion.
CCTV, China’s state broadcaster, said that at least 17 people had died in the explosions. The Tianjin Police Department statement said that a private concern, identified as the Rui Hai International Logistics Company, owned the warehouse, which was storing hazardous goods. Another resident, Wang Dong, 55, said the explosions appeared to travel through the sewer pipes. “The whole sky lit up like it was daytime,” he said.
The precise nature of the materials that exploded was not made clear, and there was no indication whether the blast was accidental or intentional. Xinhua said the initial blast originated at a warehouse in Tianjin’s Binhai district at around 11:30 p.m. and set off another explosion 30 minutes later that was even more powerful — roughly the equivalent of 21 tons of TNT, the authorities said.
“The shock waves were felt kilometers away, with some residents claiming their window glass and fish tanks shattered,” Xinhua said. The police in Tianjin said the explosion took place at a warehouse owned by Rui Hai International Logistics, a private company that was licensed to handle potentially hazardous cargo. According to People’s Daily, the company’s top official was detained for questioning. Company officials could not immediately be reached early Thursday.
The blast site was in a newly built industrial area that abuts the port of Tianjin, one of China’s most important commercial trade centers. The precise nature of the materials that exploded was not made clear, and there was no indication whether the blast was accidental or intentional. Early reports suggested that firefighters had responded to a blaze about 40 minutes before the first explosion; according to the Beijing News, at least three of the dead were firefighters and a half-dozen fire trucks were destroyed.
As daylight broke early Thursday, an enormous black plume of smoke hung over the horizon. Residents of a nearby residential area gathered on the street wearing disposable face masks as injured people, just released from the hospital, hobbled down the street bewildered. Photographs posted on Chinese social media showed the skeletal remains of buildings and row upon row of incinerated Volkswagen Beetles.
The glass on scores of high-rise buildings were shattered by the blast and rows of curtains fluttered through the broken windows. The injured, many of them suffering lacerations caused by flying glass and debris, flooded local hospitals; at the hospital closest to the scene, Taida Medical Center, emergency workers set up tents in a parking lot to treat the wounded while dozens of anxious people awaited word on injured relatives.
Police officers cordoned off entry to the blast area. Workers swept glass off the street, a wide boulevard surrounded by newly built high-rises. At one point, a man who was told that his son had just died began wailing, and the crowd went silent. “God, why are you so cruel,” he yelled. “Son, I want to go with you.”
The Beijing News and other local media in Tianjin said300 to 400 people had been hospitalized, many from injuries caused by shattered glass. The Beijing News also reported that more than 400 Tianjin residents had lined up to donate blood at the Fifth Center Hospital. As daylight broke Thursday, an enormous black plume of smoke hung over the horizon. Residents of a newly constructed apartment complex not far from the port gathered on the street wearing disposable face masks as injured people, just released from the hospital, hobbled down the street bewildered.
According to the China Earthquake Administration’s official account on Weibo, a web messaging network similar to Twitter, the first explosion took place at 11:34 p.m. and registered as a magnitude 2.3. It said a second, magnitude-2.9 explosion happened 30 seconds later, and it called that blast “the equivalent of 21 tons of TNT.” The pavement was carpeted with glass; up above, every window in the complex of 33-story buildings had been blown in and curtains fluttered eerily through the jagged openings. The tires of cars parked on the street were flat and the side of a shipping container was pressed in as if a giant had pushed it in with a thumb.
The Tianjin Fire Department 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. Across the street, a row of temporary prefabricated structures typically used on Chinese construction sites was shredded. Su Zhaoqing, 65, a construction worker, said he had been sleeping on the lower level of a bunk bed when the entire building collapsed, causing scores of injuries among the more than 2,000 men who were crammed into the structure. “Everything just fell on my face, but I managed to crawl out,” said Mr. Su, whose head was wrapped in a blood-soaked bandage.
Police officers cordoned off entry to the blast area, and security guards prevented residents from returning to their homes.
The Beijing News reported that more than 400 Tianjin residents had lined up to donate blood at the Fifth Center Hospital. A taxi driver taped a message to his rear window offering rides to the families of the victims.
According to the China Earthquake Administration’s official account on Weibo, a web messaging network similar to Twitter, the first explosion registered as a magnitude 2.3. It said a second explosion was measured at magnitude 2.9.
Earlier reports on state news media said the blast appeared to emanate from either a gas station or storage terminal of hazardous chemicals.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 people on the Bohai Bay, is about 90 miles east of Beijing.