China govt investigates Tianjin blasts; toll hits 50

State news agency Xinhua identified the owner of the warehouse as Tianjin Dongjiang Port Ruihai worldwide Logistics.

Xinhua cited local authorities for the latest rise in the death toll to 56, which it said included 21 firemen.

China has said that it will conduct nationwide inspections of businesses that handle unsafe chemicals following explosions that killed dozen of people.

Twelve firefighters are among those who lost their lives; 36 of their colleagues are still missing.

It was a bright moment in a day otherwise clouded by mistrust and unanswered questions. “The specialists have to pass through a decontamination spray after they return from the central area of the explosion site”.

Xinhua reported that firefighters were called to the warehouse at 10:50 p.m., and the explosion occurred around 40 minutes later.

Authorities in Tianjin appeared to have been concerned recently about the handling of hazardous materials at the port. A blast at an auto parts factory killed 75 people a year ago.

Many residents could be seen wearing air-filtering masks. “I’m doing this for my child”.

The commentary was later deleted but picked up widely by many state-backed Chinese media outlets.

“I thought it was an natural disaster, so I rushed downstairs without my shoes on”, Tianjin resident Zhang Siyu, whose home is several kilometers from the blast site, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

Jin Xin, a professor with Beijing University of Chemical Technology, said if water was used to put out fire caused by sodium cyanide, a highly toxic material stored at the warehouse, it would create excessive levels of hydrogen cyanide, which is highly flammable.

However, the warehouse was a transit point and authorities have no clear picture of what was there at the time of the blasts.

“The goods unloaded here were only stored temporarily”, said Gao Huaiyou, deputy director of Tianjin’s Administration of Work Safety.

The warehouse, designed to house risky and toxic chemicals, was storing mainly ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate and calcium carbide at the time of the blasts, according to police.

Burnt out Volkswagen cars are pictured amongst the damage on the second morning after a series of explosions at a chemical warehouse hit the city of Tianjin, in northern China on August 14, 2015.

Burning flames are still visible on Saturday, and explosions have been reported by witnesses and state media. Among the victims were twelve firefighters, who showed up early to the scene. “It wasn’t that the firefighters were stupid”, Mr Lei said, adding it was a large warehouse and they did not know exactly where the calcium carbide was. Tianjin has a population of 15 million. The Tianjin Economic Development Area has attracted foreign investors including Motorola, Toyota, Samsung and Novozymes. Meanwhile, more people were gathering at the Tianjin Blood Center.

Numerous hundreds of people hurt in the explosions were cut by shattered glass.