WAREHOUSE EXPLOSIONS IN CHINA KILL 17
The blasts injured hundreds, ripped doors off buildings and shattered windows miles away.
tianjin, china» Huge explosions in a warehouse district sent up massive fireballs that turned the night sky into day, killing at least 17 people and injuring hundreds in the Chinese port city of Tianjin, officials and witnesses said Thursday.
China’s state broadcaster, CCTV, said that at least 17 people were killed in the explosions late Wednesday and that at least 32 were in critical condition in hospitals. Hundreds of others were taken to hospitals.
The blasts, originating at a warehouse for hazardous material, knocked doors off buildings in the area and shattered windows miles away.
“I thought it was an earthquake, so I rushed downstairs without my shoes on,” Tianjin resident Zhang Siyu, whose home is several kilometers from the blast site, said in a telephone interview. “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. The Beijing News newspaper reported on its website that there was some unidentified yellow foam flowing at the site.
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.
The official Xinhua News agency said an initial explosion triggered other blasts at nearby businesses. 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 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 Renault cars were left charred in a nearby parking lot, the Beijing News said.
Photos taken by bystanders and circulating on microblogs show a gigantic fireball high in the sky.