17 killed, hundreds injured, as huge explosion rocks Chinese city

Tianjin authorities suspended firefighting on Thursday so chemical experts could survey for hazardous materials and the local Environmental Protection Bureau said it had identified toluene and chloroform in the air.

At least 700 people were injured, more than 71 seriously, the Tianjin government said on its Weibo microblog, and the official Xinhua news agency said two fires were still burning.

“It was complete darkness [and] my buddies were badly injured”, said one firefighter who managed to escape.

Earlier today, President Xi Jinping said those responsible should be severely handled.

The explosion that left a devastated industrial landscape of incinerated cars, toppled shipping containers and burnt-out buildings, was even being picked up by a Japanese weather satellite, and images showed walls of flame enveloping buildings and rank after rank of gutted cars at an import facility.

More than 1,000 firefighters and 140 fire engines continue efforts to put out the fire. With smoke still billowing from three parts of the site, there are concerns chemicals may be leaking.

The blasts were so powerful they registered as earthquakes and produced fireballs so big they were seen in outer space, pictured as a growing green mass in a sea of white clouds.

The cause of the fire, which is believed to have triggered the explosions, is being investigated.

Other problems exposed by the blasts include inadequate safety management of unsafe materials at ports, irregular practices among workers, weak emergency responses to incidents and lax supervision by authorities, said the notice.

The Beijing Times posted on its Weibo account that the blast scattered highly toxic sodium cyanide on nearby roads and buildings.

According to Chinese media, the blast happened after a shipment of explosives detonated in a warehouse.

The warehouse was storing mainly ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate and calcium carbide at the time, according to police. Lei Jinde, deputy propaganda department head, admitted that the first group of fire fighters on the scene had used water.

“We want to be able to offer corporate support to suppliers, our own employees, to security…” he said.

No one warned them of the risk that there could be unsafe chemicals that would react violently with water, said the report, which was later taken down from the website.