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Renault said that almost 1500 of its imported cars stored in a warehouse at the port had been burned while Toyota said the blasts broke windows at its vehicle assembly, logistics, and research buildings, which are jointly run with China’s FAW Group.

The death toll could have been higher had the explosions occurred during the day, when more people would have been working in the area.

City residents shared similar fears on social media.

Global news agency Reuters also released the video on its website followed by other online newspapers and agencies.

Officials said Zhou had no recollection of when he reached the scene, and it was not clear whether he was among the first responders to the site who were caught up in the giant blasts, or if he arrived some time later.

Tianjin authorities suspended firefighting on Thursday so chemical experts could survey for hazardous materials and the local Environmental Protection Bureau said it had identified toluene and chloroform in the air.

Among the dead were at least a dozen firefighters while around 700 people were injured, including more than 70 seriously hurt.

The initial blast is believed to have ignited other explosions at nearby companies. “They were caught off guard, so the casualties are grave”, the survivor who was rescued on Friday morning said.

It said the initial blast then ignited further explosions nearby.

The National natural disaster Bureau said the first blast was the equivalent of 3 tons of TNT, and the second 21 tons.

This story was originally published on July 29, 2015 at 4:20 p.m. Two massive explosions have rocked the Chinese port city of Tianjin.