Explosion in Chinese city Tianjin kills 14

A primary school in north China’s city of Tianjin has been turned into an emergency evacuation zone for victims of the deadly blast that ripped through the Binhai New Area in the port city late last night.

Communist Party newspaper the People’s Daily said 17 people were killed in the explosion in a post on Chinese social network Weibo, adding in a separate post that more remained trapped by a huge fire unleashed by the explosives.

They said an initial blast took place late Wednesday night at shipping containers of a warehouse for hazardous materials owned by a logistics company.

Much of the area surrounding the explosion is made up of construction sites for residential and office buildings.

Without warning, a massive blast erupts, blowing in the building’s doors as the man disappears under a wall of shattering glass; the security camera completely blanketed with thick smoke and debris. “I… looked out the window and the sky was red”, she said.

“The second explosion was so powerful that I felt the entire 16-floor-building was shaking”, said Liu, who lives about 4 kilometers (2½ miles) from the site of the blasts.

“The explosion was terrifying, and I nearly passed out”, he told AFP. State media said senior management of the company had been detained by authorities, and that President Xi Jinping has demanded severe punishment for anyone found responsible for the explosions.

China has a dismal industrial safety record as owners routinely cut costs by evading regulations and bribe corrupt officials to flout safety regulations.

About 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the explosion site is the luxury Fifth Avenue apartment complex on a road strewn with broken glass and pieces of charred metal thrown from explosion.

A series of devastating blasts in the city of Tianjin in northern China – the gateway port to Beijing – has sent a fireball hundreds of metres into the air.

The city centre retains a legacy of historic colonial architecture, along with more recent skyscrapers.

It is one of only four cities in China-along with Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing-to have the status of a province.