Two massive late night explosions on Wednesday have rocked the port city of Tianjin, killing at least 50 people and injuring hundreds, imposing heavy pressure on emergency services that are struggling to cope with the disaster.
Pictures posted on social media websites show a huge ball of fire lighting up the night sky, after a nearby fire, ignited a hazardous product warehouse. The mega-explosions, which triggered a mushroom cloud, painted the sky in hues of bright orange and red, triggering tremors, which could be felt 10 km away.
The enormity of the disaster was evident when 214 soldiers forming a nuclear and biochemical emergency rescue team, left Beijing in the forenoon on Thursday for Tianjin.
There is much speculation about the chemicals that were stored in the warehouse that belonged to the Ruihai Logistics Company. The China Youth Daily is reporting that warehouse stored highly toxic chemicals, including sodium cyanide and toluene diisocyanate. Sodium cyanide is particularly toxic and reacts easily with water, posing a danger of entering the drinking water cycle.
The environmental group Greenpeace Beijing has warned that rain forecast on Friday could transfer air-borne pollutants into water systems.
Eyewitnesses told The Hindu that showers of shattered glass injured several residents even in homes that were far away from the explosion site. “The initial response was that we have been hit by an earthquake as the blasts had triggered perceptible tremors,” said an official who did not want to be identified.
The cause of the explosions is yet to be ascertained, but authorities are taking every effort to scotch rumours. Chinese President Xi Jinping has issued instructions insisting that the cause of the fire must be ascertained, public order be maintained and care of families of the victims prioritised. The government also denied that air quality in Beijing, which is 120 km away, has been affected by the explosions.
The China Earthquake Networks Centre recorded that the first blast as 2.3 on the Richter scale, while the second explosion, which followed 30 seconds later, was even bigger, recording a magnitude of 2.9. Yet, the disaster failed to disrupt normal activity in Tianjin city.
“The Binhai New Area where the explosions took place is around 50 km away from the main city of Tianjin where normal life is continuing, despite some concerns of air quality,” says Harpreet Singh Puri, who runs a consultancy firm in the city. Officials said on Thursday that Tianjin port, the country’s fourth largest, was functioning normally.
Nevertheless, the explosion has already taken a heavy toll on fire-fighters. Twelve firemen have been officially confirmed dead while the publication Beijing Times is reporting that 36 are missing. Around 1,000 fire-fighters were deployed before teams were briefly pulled out on Thursday morning. An estimated 592 people have been injured, including 71 who are in critical condition.
The Weibo social media account of Xinhua news agency reported that fire was still raging in four places in the explosion site area. Wu Chunping, a senior engineer from Beijing General Research Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, has been quoted as saying that extinguishing the fire was made exceptionally challenging as because of the multiplicity of the chemicals, which formed new compounds during the explosion.
