China Tianjin explosion: Contamination fears and destruction spark protests

They also removed toxic chemicals from the soil.

More than 200 nuclear and biochemical experts from the Chinese military and a team from the worldwide Atomic Energy Agency’s Beijing environmental emergency response centre have been assessing the area.

Even so, the vice mayor of Tianjin told reporters on Monday that 700 tons of sodium cyanide remain in the area. “We are making plans for the treatment of tens of thousands of tonnes of polluted water in the core area”.

Crews are testing air quality and water quality in nearby rivers to see if the pollutants exceed national standards.

Wang Ke, who led one of the groups, told Xinhua that moving throught the site was “extremely unsafe, because of the burning chemicals and twisted containers, which could collapse at any minute”.

“We’ve had some small damage at the plant, such as broken windows”, a company spokeswoman said.

Friday morning, rescuers found a 19-year-old firefighter alive, more than 31 hours after the explosions.

Chinese media reports on Monday said the son of a former police chief of Tianjin port was a major shareholder in the company operating the site, Rui Hai global Logistics.

Chinese work safety rules require such storage facilities to be at least 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) away from residences, public buildings and highways.

A man who was injured following the massive explosions at the Binhai new district in Tianjin receives medical treatment at a hospital, August 13, 2015. Death toll from the accident has risen to 114, with 692 people hospitalized and 57 still unaccounted for.

Prime Minister Li Keqiang visited the port city Sunday and bowed to portraits of the 21 dead firefighters. And state-run media lambasted officials for withholding information over the explosions, largely echoing public frustrations.

A huge, “very complicated and difficult” clean-up was under way on Monday, said He, made harder by the presence of 16,500 empty shipping containers and amid fears forecast rain could release hydrogen cyanide gas.

The People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s official mouthpiece, said critics “should know that doubts and concerns were baseless and unnecessary”.

Meanwhile, China’s anti-graft watchdog announced that a former Tianjin official had been placed under investigation, without indicating whether the development was connected to the recent explosion.

China rolled out a nationwide examination of risky chemicals and explosives after the deadly explosions.

Chinese insurers are also expected to be affected.

Foreign companies including Toyota and Panasonic suspended operations around the Tianjin port.

Companies related to unsafe chemicals, including Sinopec and Petro China, have been ordered to carry out safety inspections on themselves.

“This disaster has exposed several problems, such as the poor management of unsafe chemicals”. An explosion could be caused if firefighters sprayed the calcium carbide with water.

Reuters could not verify that report but the company did not have any form of certification, including a licence to handle unsafe goods, between October 2014 and June 2015, according to its records on the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) website.