Residents evacuated

Tianjin blast

HINDUSTAN TIMES, TIANJIN, CHINA|,

AUG 15, 2015- The death toll from the giant chemical explosions in the Chinese port of Tianjin has reached 104, the official news agency Xinhua said on Saturday, as residents around the blast site were evacuated over fears of cyanide contamination.

According to rescue headquarters, 722 people have been hospitalised, 58 of whom are in a critical or serious condition.

Twenty-one firefighters were among the dead, authorities said. Earlier on Saturday, three days after the gigantic explosions sent a huge fireball into the sky and left a vast swathe of destruction, President Xi Jinping issued a statement warning authorities to learn the “extremely profound” safety lessons highlighted by the tragedy.

BBC in its report on 16.08.2015 reported Chinese authorities had ordered the evacuation of residents within a 3 km radius of the Tianjin blast site over fears of chemical contamination.

The evacuations came after an apparent change in wind direction, and as police confirmed the highly toxic chemical sodium cyanide was found near the site. The report said the death toll had risen to 112.

The decision to relocate anyone within three kilometres (two miles) of the site came despite official assurances that the disaster had not released dangerous levels of toxic substances into the environment.