44 dead, hundreds hurt in explosions in port city
TIANJIN, China — Huge explosions in a warehouse district sent up massive fireballs that turned the night sky into day, killing at least 44 people and injuring hundreds in the Chinese port city of Tianjin, officials and witnesses said Thursday.
Thirty-two people were in critical condition and 283 others hospitalized following the explosions late Wednesday, the official Xinhua News agency said. In all, more than 400 people were injured, it said. The Beijing News said on its website that 12 firefighters were among the dead.
The blasts, originating at a warehouse for hazardous material, turned buildings in the immediate vicinity into charred, skeletal shells while shattering windows up to several miles away.
“I thought it was an earthquake, so I rushed downstairs without my shoes on,” said Tianjin resident Zhang Siyu, whose home is several miles from the blast site. “Only once I was outside did I realize it was an explosion. There was the huge fireball in the sky with thick clouds. Everybody could see it.”
Zhang said she could see wounded people weeping. She said she did not see anyone who had been killed, but “I could feel death.”
There was no indication of what caused the blasts, and no immediate sign of any large release of toxic chemicals into the air.
“It was like what we were told a nuclear bomb would be like,” said truck driver Zhao Zhencheng, who spent the night in the cab of his truck after the blasts. “I’ve never even thought I’d see such a thing. It was terrifying, but also beautiful.”
Police in Tianjin said an initial blast took place at shipping containers in a warehouse for hazardous materials owned by Ruihai Logistics, a company that says it is properly approved to handle such materials. State media said senior management of the company had been detained by authorities and that President Xi Jinping has demanded severe punishment for anyone found responsible for the explosions.
Xinhua said an initial explosion triggered other blasts. The National Earthquake Bureau reported two major blasts before midnight, the first with an equivalent of 3 tons of TNT, and the second with the equivalent of 21 tons.
The explosions took place in a mostly industrial economic development zone, with some apartment buildings in the vicinity. Buildings of a half-dozen other logistics companies were destroyed in the blasts, and more than 1,000 new cars were left charred in a nearby parking lot, the Beijing News said.
The Tianjin municipality said more than 1,000 firefighters were sent to fight the ensuing fire, which was mostly under control by morning.
Tianjin, with a population of about 15 million, is about 75 miles east of Beijing on the Bohai Sea and is one of the country’s major ports.