Huge explosions in a warehouse district in the Chinese port city of Tianjin killed at least 44 people. Twelve of the dead were firefighters – more than 1,000 were sent to tackle the blaze. The Tianjin municipal government said 520 people were being treated in hospitals, 66 of them with serious injuries. It gave no figure for the missing. The state-run Beijing News earlier cited Tianjin fire authorities as saying they had lost contact with 36 firefighters.
Satellite image.
Burnt out Volkswagen cars the second morning after the chemical warehouse explosions in the city of Tianjin on Aug. 14, 2015. (FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images)
Warped containers pile up at the site of the chemical warehouse explosion in Tianjin on Friday, Aug. 14, 2015. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
This image shows destroyed shipping containers piled up next to a severely damaged building the second morning after the explosions at a chemical warehouse in the city of Tianjin, Aug. 14, 2015. (FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images)
Smoke rises from the site of the explosions at a chemical warehouse in the city of Tianjin on Aug. 14, 2015. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
This photo shows the charred remains of a warehouse and new cars that were destroyed after the explosions at a chemical warehouse in the city of Tianjin on Aug. 13, 2015. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
(Jason Lee/Reuters)
(AFP)
Firefighters work at the site of the explosions at the Binhai new district, Tianjin(Damir Sagolj/Reuters)
(Reuters)
A damaged fire engine is seen at the site of the massive explosions in Tianjin(AFP)
An aerial picture of shattered builders' work sheds is seen near the site of the explosions(Xinhua/Reuters)
initial blast apparently triggered at least one further blast. The National Earthquake Bureau reported two major blasts before midnight on Wednesday 12 August, the first with an equivalent of 3 tons of TNT, and the second with the equivalent of 21 tons. The blasts were so large that they were seen by satellites in space, and the US Geological Survey registered them as seismic events.
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 kilometres away. 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.
Shards of glass from shattered windows are embedded in a wall in an apartment block(AFP)
Molten metal runs along the ground near a fire-damaged car(AFP)
(Jason Lee/Reuters)
(Jason Lee/Reuters)
(Greg Baker/AFP)
(Jason Lee/Reuters)
(AFP)
