Thread: China blasts: Casualties in Tianjin port city explosions

China blasts: Casualties in Tianjin port city explosions - BBC News

Massive explosions have hit China's northern city of Tianjin, leaving at least 17 people dead and hundreds more injured.
State media said the blasts happened in a warehouse storing "dangerous and chemical goods" in the port area of the city.
Pictures and video on social media showed flames lighting up the sky, and buildings are said to have collapsed.
Hospitals are reported to be overwhelmed with casualties.
President Xi Jinping has urged "all-out efforts" to rescue victims and contain the fire, Xinhua state news agency said.








State broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) said a shipment of explosives had detonated but this was not confirmed.
The first explosion at about 23:30 (15:30 GMT) on Wednesday was followed by another, more powerful blast, seconds later. Shockwaves were felt several kilometres away.
BBC Chinese Service editor Raymond Li says all indications are that it was an industrial accident.
The China Earthquake Networks Centre said the magnitude of the first explosion was the equivalent of detonating three tons of TNT, while the second was the equivalent of 21 tons of the explosive.
Further blasts were subsequently triggered nearby, Xinhua said.

CCTV said four firefighters were among the dead and that more than 400 people had been injured, at least 32 of them critically.
BBC producer Xinyan Yu, who is in Tianjin, said workers' dormitories were among the buildings destroyed.
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John Sudworth, BBC News, Beijing
Some of the still photographs being posted online really give a sense of the damage. People are showing internal doors ripped off their hinges and glass is scattered everywhere inside apartments.
The most upsetting images are from the surrounding streets and from hospital waiting areas showing some of the injured - parents carrying injured children.
Hospitals are clearly struggling to cope with this huge influx of casualties.
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Hours later, fires were still burning and 100 fire engines were at the scene, reported CCTV.
One witness, named only as Ms Yang, told local media she was out shopping when "suddenly from behind there was a big fireball and explosion".













"At the time of the explosion the ground was shaking fiercely, nearby cars and buildings were shaking, glass from a few buildings all broke and everyone started to run," she said.
"Now all the residents are gathered in the street."
Another witness, Canadian teacher Monica Andrews, told how she woke in panic after what she thought was an earthquake.

"I... looked out the window and the sky was red. I just watched a second explosion go off and [it was] just pure chaos, everyone leaving their apartment buildings thinking it's an earthquake, cars trying to leave the complex. It was crazy," she told the BBC.
China National Radio said cracks were visible in buildings near the site of the blast.
Several tower blocks near the port area are without power, CCTV added.
Tianjin, home to some 15 million people, is a major port and industrial area to the south-east of the Chinese capital, Beijing,

Originally Posted by spliff

China blasts: Casualties in Tianjin port city explosions - BBC News

Lazy bastard.

MASSIVE explosion.

More info from BBC

State media said the blasts happened in a warehouse storing "dangerous and chemical goods" in the port area of the city.

Pictures and video on social media showed flames lighting up the sky, and buildings are said to have collapsed.

Hospitals are reported to be overwhelmed with casualties.

President Xi Jinping has urged "all-out efforts" to rescue victims and contain the fire, Xinhua state news agency said.

State broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) said a shipment of explosives had detonated but this was not confirmed.

State media also said senior managers of Ruihai Logistics, which owned the warehouse where the explosion took place, were being questioned by authorities.

China blasts: Casualties in Tianjin port city explosions - BBC News

China blasts: Tianjin port city rocked by explosions - BBC News

some footage give you an idea of the scale of the explosion.

Probably some retard having a smoke ignoring all the no smoking signs.

At least 44 people are now known to have died, and more than 500 injured, following two major explosions in China's northern port city of Tianjin.
Twelve firefighters were among the dead, China's official Xinhua news agency said as it reported a doubling of the death toll.
Two blasts happened in a warehouse storing "dangerous and chemical goods" in the port area of the city.
The blasts caused a huge fireball that could be seen from space.
Buildings within a 2km radius (1.5 miles) had windows blown out, office blocks were destroyed and hundreds of cars burnt-out.
Images on Chinese media showed local residents and workers fleeing their homes, some of them covered in blood from broken glass and flying debris.
As of 12:00 local time (04:00 GMT), 44 people had died and a total of 520 people had been hospitalised, including 66 in a critical condition, Xinhua reported.
Media caption
The BBC's John Sudworth reports from inside the blast zone
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At the scene: John Sudworth, BBC News, Tianjin
The apartment complex closest to the explosion has eight rows of high-rise tower blocks.
In every one of them, almost every window has been blown out. On the ground outside are the signs of the many families who have fled from their beds in a hurry - a woman's shoe, children's toys, mangled bicycles.
There would have been many injured here. Inside the homes, furniture has been picked up as if by a whirlwind and interior doors lie at angles, ripped off their hinges.
Travelling into Tianjin blast zone
Blast 'like end of the world'
Tianjin pictures reveal devastation
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The first explosion occurred at about 23:30 local time (15:30 GMT) on Wednesday, followed seconds later by another, more powerful blast and a series of smaller explosions. The impact could be felt several kilometres away.
The China Earthquake Networks Centre said the magnitude of the first explosion was the equivalent of detonating three tonnes of TNT, while the second was the equivalent of 21 tonnes.
State broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) said a shipment of explosives had detonated but this has not been confirmed.
Senior managers of Ruihai Logistics, which owns the warehouse where the explosion happened, are being questioned by authorities, state media report.
Scene close to the blast in Tianjin on 13 August 2015
Daylight revealed the extent of the devastation around the warehouse
Scene of blast in Tianjin on 13 August 2015
Buildings and cars within a two kilometre radius of the explosion were destroyed
Survivor talks on mobile phone at scene of blast in Tianjin on 13 August 2015
Hundreds of people were injured, overwhelming local hospitals and medical staff
Damaged vehicles at scene of blast in Tianjin on 13 August 2015
Tianjin is a major port and industrial area to the south-east of Beijing
One witness, named only as Ms Yang, told local media she was out shopping when "suddenly from behind there was a big fireball and explosion".
"At the time of the explosion the ground was shaking fiercely, nearby cars and buildings were shaking, glass from a few buildings all broke and everyone started to run," she said.
"It was like what we were told a nuclear bomb would be like,'' truck driver Zhao Zhencheng told the AP news agency. "I've never even thought I'd see such a thing. It was terrifying, but also beautiful.''
Vehicles can be seen burning at Binhai after huge explosions 12/08/2015
The blasts caused a huge fireball that lit up the night sky
People take shelter on the street after Tianjin explosion 12/08/2015
People flooded on to nearby streets shortly after the explosions
Another witness, Canadian teacher Monica Andrews, told how she woke in panic after what she thought was an earthquake.
"I... looked out the window and the sky was red. I just watched a second explosion go off and [it was] just pure chaos, everyone leaving their apartment buildings thinking it's an earthquake, cars trying to leave the complex. It was crazy," she told the BBC.
Media caption
Debris is seen amidst billowing smoke at the explosion site in Tianjin
China National Radio said cracks were visible in buildings near the site of the blast.
Several tower blocks near the port area are without power, CCTV added.
Tianjin, home to some 15 million people, is a major port and industrial area to the south-east of the Chinese capital, Beijing.

China explosion: Tianjin death toll rises in port blasts - BBC News

Originally Posted by Cujo

The blasts caused a huge fireball that could be seen from space.

Hope someone up there got a photo of that.

They will never find all the bodies. Must be quite a few poor souls vaporized in that mighty blast.

How anyone was able to record the explosions is amazing. I'd have been looking for the nearest bomb shelter to hide out in.

Sqeaky bum time for insurance companies.

What your car looks like today if you live in Tianjin.

looks like the wireless might still work

21 tonnes of TNT is only one 20' GP containers worth

lucky it happened so late at night

It would be quite the tragedy if the firefighters were not aware of the type of chemicals and ended up pouring fuel onto the fire, so to speak.

The youtube footage I saw of the second explosion looked to be enough to wake the dead...

... but storing hazardous chemicals in a populated area and next to eachother? Time the Chinese cleaned up their act before they end up paying for it again.

Thank goodness the multi national companies moved the dangerous chemical materials and production to China

When it comes to celebrating the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombs dropped in Japan, no one will beat the Chinese for effect.
I haven't seen the US or UK attempts yet, but i doubt they will out do this one.

Well done China. Thats how you celebrate.

the size of the second explosion is huge

Amateur footage of gigantic explosions in the Chinese city of Tianjin captures the wave of emotions as onlookers reacted first with curiosity, then disbelief, horror and panic.Two huge explosions tore through an industrial area of the port city containing toxic chemicals and gas, killing 50 people and injuring at least 700, officials and state media said.
David Van Duren uploaded a video, shot from the 33rd floor of a building, capturing the horrifying explosions.
The video shows a fire in the distance before a series of explosions, each bigger than the last.
Clouds of flame and smoke billow upwards as burning debris raisn down on silhouetted high-rise towers.
As the people in the video observe the explosions getting bigger and bigger they become fearful for their own safety and eventually flee.

Escalating series of bomb blasts in Tianjin captured from nearby building - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Looks like the initial blast atomized something that caused the bigger fuel-air blast. That is unreal!

registered 3 on the rictor scale.

Originally Posted by baldrick

the size of the second explosion is huge

Amateur footage of gigantic explosions in the Chinese city of Tianjin captures the wave of emotions as onlookers reacted first with curiosity, then disbelief, horror and panic.Two huge explosions tore through an industrial area of the port city containing toxic chemicals and gas, killing 50 people and injuring at least 700, officials and state media said.
David Van Duren uploaded a video, shot from the 33rd floor of a building, capturing the horrifying explosions.
The video shows a fire in the distance before a series of explosions, each bigger than the last.
Clouds of flame and smoke billow upwards as burning debris raisn down on silhouetted high-rise towers.
As the people in the video observe the explosions getting bigger and bigger they become fearful for their own safety and eventually flee.

Escalating series of bomb blasts in Tianjin captured from nearby building - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

wow. That's a bit crazy.

Homes Closest to China Chemical Fire Were 2,000 Feet Away

BEIJING — The high-rise apartment complex closest to Tianjin’s toxic chemical storage inferno was only 2,000 feet away, despite Chinese laws requiring a 3,200-foot minimum distance from hazardous sites.

The disclosure was among the new details emerging on Friday that suggested possible criminal negligence, mixed with rife speculation of an official cover-up, in the aftermath of the fire Wednesday night in Tianjin — China’s third-largest city and a major northeast seaport, about 90 miles east of Beijing.

With the death toll rising to at least 56 on Friday, more than 700 hospitalized and an unknown number still missing in the smoldering wreckage, the fire was shaping up as one of China’s worst industrial calamities. It appeared to expose the kinds of regulatory lapses that have plagued the country’s transformation into a global economic powerhouse.

Government officials, acutely aware of concerns over the fire, have sought to suppress unauthorized information. They seemed unprepared for the tough questions posed at a news conference in Tianjin on Friday, including why hazardous chemicals had been stockpiled so near populated areas. They abruptly ended the conference.

With uncharacteristic defiance, some Chinese news outlets did their own reporting anyway.

Local residents have said they had no idea that any risk had been posed by the warehouses where the fire began, a modest blaze that suddenly exploded in mammoth fireballs. They engulfed office buildings and port facilities, as well as onlookers who had gathered to watch the firefighters at work.

The developers of Vanke Port City, a residential complex that is practically at the incinerated area’s doorstep and has now been evacuated indefinitely, said they had been told when they started construction in 2010 that the warehouses in question handled only “common goods.”

“We were never notified that the warehouses were modified to handle dangerous goods,” a spokesman for the developer said in an email.

According to Chinese law, facilities that handle hazardous materials must be more than 3,200 feet from homes and public buildings. Vanke is 2,000 feet away.

Suspicions among the populace were further raised by the censorship of information. The vacuum was filled by online speculation about whether the owners of Rui Hai International Logistics, the company that owned the warehouse where the blasts originated, might be connected to senior government leaders.

more http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/15/wo...njin.html?_r=0

the owners of Rui Hai International Logistics, the company that owned the warehouse where the blasts originated, might be connected to senior government leaders.

perish the thought.

Originally Posted by kingwilly

Originally Posted by baldrick

the size of the second explosion is huge

Amateur footage of gigantic explosions in the Chinese city of Tianjin captures the wave of emotions as onlookers reacted first with curiosity, then disbelief, horror and panic.Two huge explosions tore through an industrial area of the port city containing toxic chemicals and gas, killing 50 people and injuring at least 700, officials and state media said.
David Van Duren uploaded a video, shot from the 33rd floor of a building, capturing the horrifying explosions.
The video shows a fire in the distance before a series of explosions, each bigger than the last.
Clouds of flame and smoke billow upwards as burning debris raisn down on silhouetted high-rise towers.
As the people in the video observe the explosions getting bigger and bigger they become fearful for their own safety and eventually flee.

Escalating series of bomb blasts in Tianjin captured from nearby building - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

wow. That's a bit crazy.

Unbelievably scary footage. The people who captured it were laughing and joking at first, that soon changed.

Some English comments during the explosions that sum it up pretty well . . .