Death toll in China warehouse explosion hits 56

China’s cabinet also ordered officials to “crack down unwaveringly on illegal activities to ensure safety”.

Zhou Ti, a 19-year-old firefighter, was pulled from the zone at about dawn on Friday and taken to hospital, where he was treated for face, chest and foot injuries.

At least 721 people were injured in Wednesday’s explosions and fireball.

The cause of the blast is still being investigated.

Officials said on Friday that the scene of the explosions was still unsafe for firemen as risky chemicals stored in the warehouse could still trigger further blasts. Biochemical specialists said they were waiting for workers to clear the roads to the site so they could assess chemical contamination.

The reference to cyanide followed reports in the People’s Daily that 700 tonnes of sodium cyanide were at the Tianjin site. That could have then detonated the ammonium nitrate.

Guo cited damage to the company’s office and major discrepancies between the accounts of company management and customs records as a reason they have not been able to identify the chemicals, China.org reported. Volunteers with loudspeakers told residents to leave the area, the Beijing News said. One expert told a press conference in Tianjin that the air and water there was safe.

The blasts on Wednesday night were preceded by a fire at the warehouse, and questions have also been raised about whether the hundreds of firefighters were aware of the hazards, and whether they were trained to combat complex chemical fires. Chemical safety experts said calcium carbide reacts with water to create acetylene, a highly explosive gas.

“At that point no one knew, it wasn’t that the firefighters were stupid”, Mr Lei said, adding that it was a large warehouse and they didn’t know the exact location of the calcium carbide.

Police and military staff are deployed at checkpoints leading to the explosion site, and helicopters are hovering above as fires continue to burn. “Feels like there’s an unknown force giving us energy and strength, so I don’t feel exhausted”.

Photos posted on Chinese social network Weibo on the day showed people in the street apparently covered in blood, while others could be seen carrying children covered in blankets to safety, though the veracity of the pictures could not immediately be confirmed. But the cause of the fire has yet to be determined.

Fires that started as the blasts torched cars and reduced buildings to blackened shells are still smouldering among hazardous materials, prompting fears of further blasts. Ltd., which was founded in 2011 and is a storage and distribution center of containers of risky goods at the Tianjin Port. Report compiled with information from CCTV News and Xinhua.

Around 720 others remain in hospital, 25 critically wounded and 33 in a serious condition.