Tianjin and Shandong explosions - 150 killed, 23 missing, 20 critical (so far)

[Flobalob]

13/08/15 - Tianjin
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-33915683

Scroll down to the vid with an explosion in it.

China has sent a team of military chemical experts to the northern city of Tianjin, after explosions left at least 116 dead, state media report.

The blasts, late on Wednesday night, ripped through an industrial port area, destroying buildings, shipping containers and thousands of new cars.

It is not known what caused the blasts, nor whether chemicals have leaked.

More than 3,500 residents are spending the night in temporary shelters. Hundreds are injured, 71 critically.

State news agency Xinhua reports that rescue workers are "racing against the clock to save the injured and contain fires", 24 hours after the massive blasts at a warehouse in the Binhai New Area.

Many of the wounded had glass or shrapnel cuts, skull injuries or fractures, Wang Siaojie of Teda Hospital said.

More than 200 experts in chemical materials from the Chinese army have arrived in Tianjin. Their first task was to test the air for toxic gases, Xinhua said.

Rescue teams were ordered to wear protective clothing, it added.

The warehouse that exploded is owned by a company called Ruihai Logistics, which handles toxic chemicals including sodium cyanide and toluene diisocyanate, according to reports.

The People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, reports that rescuers "are trying to remove all the 700 tons of sodium cyanide" stored at the site. Hydrogen peroxide had been prepared to detoxify the chemical, the paper says.

The Tianjin Port Group Company said dozens of its employees were unaccounted for, according to Xinhua.

Firefighters were already at the scene when the explosions took place.

They had been called to reports of a container fire, state media said. At least 17 firefighters are among the dead.

The two successive explosions, at 23:30 local time on Wednesday (15:30 GMT), caused a fireball visible from space and a blast wind that broke windows several kilometres away.

A large area of the port was devastated. Shipping containers were left buckled, bent and toppled on top of each other like toy bricks.

Row upon row of new cars were reduced to blackened husks.

Almost 10,000 vehicles were ruined, according to Chinese media, with Renaults and Volkswagens the worst affected.

The head of Tianjin's environmental protection bureau, Wen Wurui, said pollution levels were being monitored.

"It would be harmful if you breathe in [this toxic air] for a long time," he said.

"But at present, it has not exceeded [the standard] too much based on our monitoring."

Water discharge points to the sea had been closed, he said.

A man who was working as a security guard in a nearby factory told the BBC that he saw there was a fire, but did not expect explosions.

"Suddenly I heard a bang," he said. "I lay down immediately, but I still got injured.
"My security booth was destroyed completely."

Another injured man said after the explosion his mind went blank.

"My first reaction was to run," he said. "I heard another burst. I was running away. I got blood all over my body."

The blast ripped apart a nearby dormitory for migrant workers, who were forced to flee the collapsing building.

"I rolled off the bed after the first shockwave hit, so I scrambled to run for my life," said resident Dan Agio.

"When I reached downstairs, the second blast happened. It's as if the sky collapsed. In a blink of an eye, the roof fell."

The editor of the BBC's Chinese Service, Raymond Li, points out that 24 hours after the explosions, the cause still is not known.

Just a few days ago, city officials visited the industrial site to discuss safety standards, he says.

It is also becoming clear that the hazardous chemicals were stored closer to residential areas than they are legally allowed to be, he says.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has promised "open and transparent information disclosure" on the investigation.

The People's Daily reported that officials had said the cause of the explosion would be figured out once the fire at the scene had been completely extinguished.

The explosions took place at a warehouse at the port which contained hazardous and flammable chemicals, including calcium carbide, sodium cyanide, potassium nitrate, ammonium nitrate and sodium nitrate.

Officials insist it is not yet clear what triggered the blasts and say they are still investigating. Chinese media said that at least one member of staff from Tianjin Dongjiang Port Ruihai International Logistics, which owns the warehouse, has been arrested.

Before the explosions, several firefighters were already at the scene trying to control a blaze. There have been suggestions that water sprayed on some of the chemicals could have led to the blasts.

Calcium carbide, known to be at the site, reacts with water to create the highly explosive acetylene.

Chemical experts suggest an acetylene blast could then have detonated the other chemicals for a much larger blast.

The China Earthquake Networks Centre said the initial explosion, in a city with a population of around 15 million, had a power equivalent to three tonnes of TNT detonating, while the second was the equivalent of 21 tonnes.

The second was so big that satellites orbiting Earth picked it up as well. Chinese data site Cnbeta published pictures showing the sudden flare.

EDIT 22/08/15 - Shandong:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-34029202
An explosion has been reported at a chemical plant in China's eastern province of Shandong.

Large flames could be seen from the site of the blast in Zibo County. There are no reports of casualties.

The People's Daily said a warehouse at the Runxing chemical plant exploded and firefighters went to the scene.

There is a residential area about 1km from the plant. Earlier this month blasts in the northern city of Tianjin killed at least 116 people.

The proximity of industrial and chemical plants to residential areas has become hugely controversial.

Saturday's blast took place near the city of Zibo. It is not yet clear if homes in the area have been damaged.

The explosion triggered a fire and a dozen fire engines were at the scene, Xinhua news agency reports.

The BBC's Chinese service's Howard Zhang says that the blasts at Shandong and Tianjin have taken on a political significance and threaten to overshadow China's celebrations of the 70th anniversary of its victory over Japan in World War Two.

The Beijing Times reported that the Runxing plant contained adiponitrile - a chemical which is reported to be used for the production of nylon and can be harmful to skin.

Windows shattered at the scene of the blast, state media reported, and its vibration could be felt 2km from the site.

The operators of the Tianjin site are being investigated for allowing dangerous chemicals to be stored too close to homes.

The blasts there also raised fears of contamination by toxic substances.

They also sparked a nationwide directive cracking down on the storage of chemicals.

Officially the minimum distance between businesses with dangerous chemicals and public buildings and transport networks is meant to be 1km.

But data from the Tianjin incident showed there were at least three major residential communities inside that distance from the warehouse.

[Dr Frook]

yeah, I know

these kinds of things happen every so often in china... but this time it's huge.

scary stuff...

[Shadowstar1922]

Judging from the explosin, I'm sure more than 50 people died.

[Dr Frook]

yeah over 100 thus far. But considering how dangerous the chemicals were, I think more will die in the coming days.

[Shadowstar1922]

yeah over 100 thus far. But considering how dangerous the chemicals were, I think more will die in the coming days.

RIP China's plan to cut pollution lol

with this stuff happening who knows what will happen next.

[Flobalob]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-33945293
If you scroll down a bit in this link there's another video, this time dashcam footage of part of the explosion but mainly the shockwave ripping down a street.

[Shadowstar1922]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-33945293
If you scroll down a bit in this link there's another video, this time dashcam footage of part of the explosion but mainly the shockwave ripping down a street.

it's crazy. it's just so crazy. these kinds of events make me question why we have facilities like this that have such big risks.

look at japan. are nuclear energy facilities really that worth it to contaminate the entire pacific ocean, slowly destroying all life there? pacific ocean is literally dead (well going to be). hundreds and millions of years to clean itself up while it wrecks life.

[Flobalob]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-33945293
If you scroll down a bit in this link there's another video, this time dashcam footage of part of the explosion but mainly the shockwave ripping down a street.

it's crazy. it's just so crazy. these kinds of events make me question why we have facilities like this that have such big risks.

look at japan. are nuclear energy facilities really that worth it to contaminate the entire pacific ocean, slowly destroying all life there? pacific ocean is literally dead (well going to be). hundreds and millions of years to clean itself up while it wrecks life.

Fitting example; They just reopened the first nuclear reactor since Fukushima went south:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-33858350

I get that there's not really a lot of choice of whether or not to build them, but where is another story. Building a nuclear reactor in a high-risk Tsunami zone is just straight up stupid.

[Icamenal]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/chi ... ar-BBlLuKZ
There are smaller explosions nearby too. Some people think that they're from burning cars.

[Dr Frook]

I feel sorry for all the people who live near the site...

truly a terrible thing...

also for all the firefighters who probably died...