UN expert slams China on chemical blast secrecy

At least 114 people killed and 70 missing after blasts in Tianjin”, “footerText”: “Brought To You By”, “authorLineLabel”: “By”, “showBylineLabel”: “null, “showDatelineLabel”: “null, “showPublicationDateLabel”: “null, “authorSnippetLabel”: “By”, “showNativeInfoTooltipText”: “true, “showNativeAdSynopsis”: “true, “showByline”: “true, “showDateline”: “true, “showPublicationDate”: “true, “hasAuthor”: “true, “displayMultipleAuthors”: “false, “showAuthor”: “true, “showAuthorSnippet”: “true, “showSubHeadline”: “false }’>[Native Advertisement].

Bao Jingling, chief engineer at the bureau, told a press conference that outside the cordoned off area near the warehouse, excessive levels of toxic cyanide had not been detected.

Meanwhile, heavy rain hampered recovery efforts on Tuesday.

“We have been reading so many stories of death and loss, especially our young firefighters”, said Weibo user Yang Yi Chang.

There was no immediate word from China’s Offshore Oil Engineering Company (COOEC) on the status of its headquarters, located about a kilometre away from the blast site.

In addition to Toyota, automakers like Volkswagen AG and BMW said they had made moves to switch to Shanghai and other ports in the aftermath of the explosions.

On Tuesday Xinhua released the names of Tianjin Rui Hai worldwide Logistics Co. executives – the owners of the warehouse – under police detention.

The chemical sodium cyanide is white crystalline or granular powder which can be rapidly fatal if inhaled or ingested, as it interferes with the body’s ability to use oxygen.

“I had my schoolmate hold shares for me because of my father”, the official agency quoted Dong as saying.

As for the rest of the chemicals, authorities said they have been combing an area within a radius of three kms in the past few days, and were expected to collect and neutralise all of them Shushan, deputy mayor of Tianjin in charge of the municipality’s work safety, said.

Dong and his partners found an appraisal company that ignored the facts, the news agency said. Some residents from communities near the blast site were escorted by soldiers yesterday to their homes to collect items while wearing masks.

Families of firefighters also have begun protesting on social media the government’s lack of transparency and said authorities in Tianjin are not updating them on their relatives’ status.

Xinhua added that officials suspected of dereliction of duty and other crimes are being investigated by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, China’s top prosecutor.

Ruihai’s general manager is in hospital under police watch. In June 2013, a fire at a poultry plant in the northeastern province of Jilin killed 121 people.

It also shed light on the murky ownership structure at Ruihai, which had been the focus of rampant rumors of potential high-level connections and cover-up since the August 12 blasts, which also left 64 people missing and 674 hospitalized.