Huge Explosions Rock Tianjin Industrial Area in China

State broadcaster China Central Television said a shipment of explosives detonated at around 11.30 pm local time, triggering a blast wave felt kilometres (miles) away.

A hospital told People’s Daily, China they have already received 300 to 400 patients with injuries. It said the explosions shattered windows and knocked off doors of buildings in the area.

The cause was not immediately clear.

Injured people have been hospitalized, it said.

According to CNBC, a smaller blast, the equivalent 3 tons of TNT, triggered a larger one equaling approximately 20 tons, shaking the port city of Tianjin.

The state-run Xinhua news agency reported the explosion tore through a warehouse storing “dangerous goods” in the Binhai New Area.

Photos apparently taken by bystanders and circulating online on microblogs show a enormous fireball high in the sky, with a mushroom-cloud.

Authorities had lost contact with 36 firefighters on the scene, the official Beijing News newspaper reported, citing the Tianjin fire department. No deaths have been reported, according to Chinese media.

Han Xiang said: “It was like the quake back in 1976 with glass breaking”. It said the firefighters were combing the neighbourhood to look for further injured residents.

Tianjin is home to around 15 million people, making it one of the biggest cities in China.