Death toll rises to 85 in China blasts

Meanwhile, angry relatives of missing firefighters have stormed a government news conference demanding information about their loved ones.

There were 21 firefighters among the dead, authorities said, and 721 people had been hospitalised, 25 of whom were in critical condition.

The death toll from a massive fire and explosions in Tianjin, China, has jumped to 85, officials said.

Chinese authorities have ordered residents to evacuate buildings within a three-kilometre radius of the Tianjin blast site after a fresh series of explosions reignited fires and prompted fears of chemical contamination.

Authorities are yet to determine the full list of chemicals on site, but state media say there are large amounts of sodium cyanide, which is combustible upon contact with water.

Officials were scrambling yesterday to understand what had caused the calamitous blasts in Tianjin that killed dozens of people this week, while they faced persistent questions about why they had allowed a company that handled risky chemicals to operate so close to residential areas.

At one point early Friday evening, a small explosion could be seen inside the cordoned-off zone, in what may have been a controlled blast by firefighters.

Photographs showed government chemical warfare specialists at the still smouldering site wearing protective clothes and gas masks.

Although the toll is grim, it could have been a lot worse if the blasts had struck during the day, when more people would have been working in the port area.

Ltd, which operates the warehouse, is licensed to store an array of unsafe chemicals, including flammable gas and liquid, as well as other hazardous chemicals, such as potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate and sodium cyanide, calcium silicate and Toluene Diisocyanate.

Police and the military set up checkpoints on roads leading to the blast sites, and helicopters hovered in the overcast sky.

“I thought it was an quake, 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.

“Forces from all sides are searching for the missing firefighters”, he said.

Family members have said that the first firefighters to the scene came from one brigade and only two are thought to have survived. “The land was near normal logistics warehouses when we acquired it in April 2010”, the company said in an emailed statement. “He just turned 18”.

Tianjin has a population of 15 million.

One surviving firefighter, 19-year-old Zhou Ti, was found Friday morning and taken to a hospital.

“They were caught off guard, so the casualties are grave”, he said.

From his hospital bed, Zhou told state broadcaster CCTV the fire was spreading out of control. “I was knocked onto the ground at the first blast”, said Zhou, who in the video footage appeared to have sustained serious injuries.