Tianjin: race to clear chemicals amid fears of toxic gas clouds

Chinese soldiers have been racing to clean up chemicals at the blast site in Tianjin in northern China amid fears that thunderstorms could create clouds of toxic gas.

Firefighters spent the weekend battling fires still blazing after Wednesday's chemical storage warehouse explosions in the Chinese port city.

Bad weather, expected this afternoon, is threatening to make the situation even worse, reports the Washington Post. The explosion, which shook the city and created huge fireballs that could be seen from space, left unexploded chemicals "exposed to the elements", says the newspaper.

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Military officials said the tons of deadly sodium cyanide stored at two locations on the site were of particular concern. Chemical experts elsewhere in the world warn that the gases are extremely dangerous. According to the US public health body, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), when wet sodium cyanide releases the highly toxic gas hydrogen cyanide, loss of life can occur within minutes.

Nevertheless, the Chinese army insists that the chemicals pose no threat to those outside the two kilometre evacuation zone.

Tianjin residents living near the site have held a number of protests, demanding compensation and refusing to return to their homes.

"We don't know if there will be further leaks in the future. We could be living near a ticking time bomb," said one resident.

In an open letter to the authorities, residents wrote: "Our neighbours lost their lives there. Their screams can never be erased for a long time. How can we live in that 'execution ground' with any peace of mind?"

President Xi Jinping has said authorities must learn the lessons "paid for with blood" in the blasts.

But The Times reports that Beijing has allegedly shut down dozens of websites that raised questions about the official death toll. Authorities say that 114 people died, with 70 people still missing, while 700 are still in hospital. Around 6,000 people have been displaced, with 17,000 homes damaged.

Several websites, which have since been closed down for "spreading rumours", suggested that the death toll was closer to 1,000.

China blasts: 44 dead after warehouse explosions in Tianjin

13 August

Huge explosions ripped through the Chinese port city of Tianjin overnight, killing at least 44 people and injuring hundreds more.

A series of blasts happened in warehouses storing "dangerous goods" including toxic chemicals and gas, Chinese state media reported.

Authorities said the dead included 12 firefighters and more than 520 people were injured, with numbers expected to rise. The explosions were so large they were seen from satellites in space, shockwaves were felt kilometres away and the US Geological Survey registered the blasts as seismic events, Reuters reports.

Terrified witnesses described seeing a fireball up to 100m high. "It was like what we were told a nuclear bomb would be like," one man told AP. "I never thought I'd see such a thing. It was terrifying, but also beautiful."

The BBC's John Sudworth reports it may be a long time before the cause of the explosion is known. “Such is the scale of this disaster that for now, the authorities are simply struggling to achieve an accurate account of the numbers of dead and injured."

China is often criticised for its poor industrial safety record. Last year, 75 people were killed in a car parts factory when a room filled with metal dust exploded.

Premier Li Keqiang has vowed to thoroughly investigate the explosions and to ensure "open and transparent" information disclosure to the public.

However, "there were signs on Thursday morning that the government was attempting to harness control of public information channels", the Daily Telegraph reports.

Journalists at the scene have reported being hampered in their efforts by police while Chinese citizens posting on the social media site Weibo complained their posts on the blast were being deleted.