Firefighter rescued from rubble after China chemical blast

At least 56 are known dead, among them 21 firefighters, but many are still missing, including dozens of employees of the company that owed the warehouse, according to Xinhua. Authorities said the toll could have been much higher if the disaster hit a more populated area. The death toll today rose to 56, including 21 firemen, local officials said, adding that as many as 721 injured have been hospitalised, of whom 58 have sustained critical injuries. And rescue operations are underway to search for those still missing.

Rescuers pulled one survivor from the wreckage, a city official told reporters.

It was a bright moment in a day otherwise clouded by mistrust and unanswered questions.

Tianjin officials say they are unable to give a detailed list of exactly what chemicals were being stored at the warehouse.

The authorities are still trying to determine what caused the huge explosions in an industrial area of the port city of Tianjin, where some fires have continued to burn.

The housing development’s windows were shattered and the side facing the explosions singed. A blast at an auto parts factory killed 75 people a year ago.

Local officials have publicly reassured a skeptical public that the blasts have not contaminated the air, but many residents weren’t taking chances and could be seen Friday wearing air-filtering masks. Fooage showed the 56-year-old man being carried out on a sketcher by a group of soldiers wearing gas masks. “I’m doing this for my child”.

Approximately 1,000 firefighters in more than 140 fire engines struggled to contain a blaze in a warehouse that held “dangerous goods”, Xinhua said.

Chemical safety experts say calcium carbide can turn into an explosive gas if doused with water. The warehouse leveled in the blast was roughly five times the size of a large warehouse.

The People’s Daily, the Communist Party mouthpiece, said that the facility “clearly violated” safety regulations. The warehouse, designed to house risky and toxic chemicals, was storing mainly ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate and calcium carbide at the time, according to police.

Leggett said Chinese authorities – unlike their U.S. counterparts – may have lacked thorough documentation of the chemicals moving through the country’s transit facilities, and that the detection of sodium cyanide in a nearby sewer could be concerning. But the contamination was no longer detected later Saturday, the report said.

“Why let young firefighters who have no experience go to the scene?” asked one Weibo poster. However, the deputy head of the propaganda wing of China’s fire department, Lei Jinde, said the firefighters should not be blamed.

Major explosions in the Chinese city of Tianjin on Wednesday evening has grabbed the world’s attention for the past couple of days as news of its cause, casualties, and possible government negligence continues to unfold.

Earlier, officials said water had been used to put out the flames. Tianjin has a population of 15 million.