The extent of the damage and the cause of the massive explosion at a hazardous goods warehouse in the port area of Binhai outside of Tianjin at 11:30 pm Wednesday were still being evaluated as morning broke in China. From Steven Jiang, Dana Ford and Jethro Mullen at CNN :
The state-run news agency Xinhua reported that an explosion tore through a warehouse storing “dangerous and chemical goods” in Binhai, an area of the city by the water.
The firefighting division of the Chinese Public Security Ministry said firefighters were first called to the scene about a fire. An explosion went off after they arrived, it said.
As smoke continued to billow into the sky from the site Thursday, local authorities suspended firefighting efforts at the scene because of a lack of information on the “dangerous goods” that were stored at the warehouse, Xinhua reported.
[…] The state-run China Earthquake Networks Center said in an official post on social media that two of the explosions had carried the force of small earthquakes. The first was measured at magnitude of 2.3, the second at 2.9, it said. [Source]
Album: Death toll reach 44 in #Tianjin warehouse #explosion, 12 firefighters are among the dead pic.twitter.com/c6fPlTVN9o
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) August 13, 2015
Follow liveblogs from The Guardian and Hong Kong Free Press for live updates.
On Twitter, photos and videos spread quickly:
https://twitter.com/stinson/status/631516691000733696
Shanghai Morning post on Weibo posts seismographs of the #Tianjin explosions. http://t.co/gpkVQLXbL7 pic.twitter.com/h1MqCskIW5
— reported.ly (@reportedly) August 12, 2015
Terrifying video out of #Tianjin https://t.co/sjG5itlr1z
— Emmanuelle Saliba ? (@_esaliba) August 12, 2015
Update:#Tianjin explosion reportedly caused by inflammables & explosives at container terminal, hundreds hospitalized pic.twitter.com/c2BUYhkrE1
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) August 12, 2015
Every window in scores of high rises shattered by Tianjin blast. Curtains eerily flutter from windows. Residents fled pic.twitter.com/yvbEDUboaD
— Andrew Jacobs (@AndrewJacobsNYT) August 12, 2015
Witness describes Tianjin, China, port explosion: "It was like what we were told a nuclear bomb would be": http://t.co/lYgWPGftQD
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 13, 2015
Photos from aftermath of #tianjin #china explosion show dozens of cars incinerated. http://t.co/wcKljaEPlQ
— Julie Makinen (@Julie_Makinen) August 12, 2015
local reports suggesting up to 70,000 affected, 1km radius from blast site totally obliterated.
— Steve George (@steve0george) August 13, 2015
Shockwaves of #Tianjin blasts equal to energy of at least 24 tonnes of TNT explosives: seismic network pic.twitter.com/MM8YekQJEb
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) August 13, 2015
Wave diagrams of #Tianjin blasts recorded by seismic station 32km away. First 2 blasts equal ML2.3 & 2.9 earthquakes pic.twitter.com/c8U9ftvwRK
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) August 13, 2015
Aerial view of the explosion site on 11 a.m. in Tianjin#Tianjin pic.twitter.com/Qbf2sNDiPM
— China Plus News (@ChinaPlusNews) August 13, 2015
This may be the most retweeted Weibo posting as of now pic.twitter.com/3lwCkbzl9b
— Guobin Yang (@Yangguobin) August 13, 2015
(At the time of posting, the cartoon had been reposted almost 675,000 times on Weibo.)
Foreign journalists who approached a hospital to report were pushed back and verbally assaulted by relatives of victims and other local residents. Will Ripley of CNN was broadcasting live on CNN when he was interrupted and forced off air by distraught survivors.
The moment I'm forced off air outside a #Tianjin hospital treating blast victims. 13 killed. Fires still burning…. http://t.co/8ypgBefsOb
— Will Ripley (@willripleyCNN) August 12, 2015
Outside hosptial in Tianjin, grief stricken relatives inexplicitly attack foreign journalists shouting "stop the foreigners from reporting."
— Andrew Jacobs (@AndrewJacobsNYT) August 13, 2015
Don't think it's a stretch to think this is related to Global Times and other media demonizing Western reporters all the time.
— Andrew Jacobs (@AndrewJacobsNYT) August 13, 2015
Netizens on weibo furious that Tianjin television news isn't showing live pictures of blast scene. Posts being deleted by internet censors.
— Philip Wen (@PhilipWen11) August 13, 2015
A top comment on Weibo re: #TianjinBlast from CCTV ast. director: "希望大家不信谣、不传谣，等待官方消息。" That is, "we'll take care of recording history."
— Kevin Slaten (@KevinSlaten) August 13, 2015
Migrant workers living and working in nearby sites make up a disproportionate number of the injured and killed, according to eyewitness accounts. AFP reports:
[..A]longside the pristine new buildings that epitomise China’s rise sat twisted metal, torn off roofs and burnt out huts – remnants of the flimsy metal structures that house workers, and looked instead like crumpled, discarded sweet wrappers.
Brightly coloured bedding was exposed to the morning sun, some stained with splatters of blood.
Construction worker Wang He lived in one of the dormitories, less than a kilometre from the blast, and awoke with a jolt, hitting his head on the ceiling.
“I saw a huge fireball, felt a hot wind on my face and then heard one of the loudest sounds in my life,” the 26-year-old told AFP. [Source]
Fears for safety of up to 300 construction workers lodged next to the Tianjin blast site 天津爆炸点附近一处工地300名工人全部被埋 http://t.co/wPd72UGTeI
— CLB (@chinalabour) August 13, 2015
Two workers injured in Tianjin explosion when blgd collapsed on them. 2000 workers were in building with them. pic.twitter.com/y16IBxor3P
— Andrew Jacobs (@AndrewJacobsNYT) August 12, 2015
Journalists from Thepaper.cn report that the air at the blast site is toxic and caused them to start vomiting https://t.co/XaDIz5AjQk
— isabella steger (@stegersaurus) August 13, 2015
Workers had not received any training in handling dangerous chemical goods, a blast survivor said. #Tianjin pic.twitter.com/otAu34uVHd
— China.org.cn (@chinaorgcn) August 13, 2015
More footage of the explosion from various perspectives:
