Tianjin residents stage protest as blast death toll rises

“In life, you are not often confronted with these kinds of disasters, whether natural or man-made”, said Ji Tao, a doctor.

He said the cyanide cleanup has been completed within a two-kilometer radius except in the center of the blast, where 700 tonnes of sodium cyanide were stored.

Tianjin, the world’s 10th-busiest port, is massive and the country’s largest storage and shipment facility for vehicles arriving and leaving.

Premier Li Keqiang visited the site on Sunday afternoon.

While the exact cause is now unclear, we know that the blast occurred at a warehouse owned by Rui Hai global Logistics, a private company licensed to handle potentially hazardous cargo, The New York Times reported.

The official Xinhua News Agency said over 700 people were hospitalized, with 25 in critical condition, by 9 p.m. on August 13.

On Thursday, the state-run Xinhua news agency had said executives of the firm were in police custody.

As the work continues to identify those who were killed in the blast, the death toll stood at 114 people on Tuesday, with 70 still missing, majority firefighters.

About 40 minutes after the first reports of a fire, a sudden set of explosions – one equivalent to 21 tons of TNT – all but obliterated Zhou’s squad.

“Now our homes have been destroyed, can’t the government give us an explanation?” asks a 60-year old woman.

Questions have also been raised over whether firefighters responding to an initial blaze at the warehouse could have contributed to the detonations by spraying water over risky substances.

Prosecutors in Tianjin said earlier they were investigating two senior officials from Binhai district on suspicion of corruption, although they did not specify whether the charges were linked to the blasts.

Mainstream media outlets – which in China are effectively controlled by the authorities – condemned local officials’ lack of transparency, saying it could reflect badly on the government.

Officials say up to 3,000 tons of unsafe chemicals were stored in the warehouse which exploded. However, many residents, fearful of potential toxins in the air due to the hazardous chemicals released by the blasts, have taken to wearing masks.

Numerous hundreds of people hurt in the explosions were cut by shattered glass. “Up until now they have not acknowledged us at all”, said Li Jiao, whose home was close to the blast site. “Hydrogen cyanide interferes with the body’s ability to use oxygen particularly affecting the brain, heart and lungs and can rapidly lead to death”, she said.

Corbett said that beginning in the late 1960s, American fire crews also established specialized hazardous-materials teams that are “trained to a much higher level” than regular firefighters.

“There were many firefighters who went into the blast and sacrificed themselves”.

The recovery of toxic materials has begun in earnest at the site of last week’s explosions at a chemical warehouse in China’s port of Tianjin.