China investigates Tianjin blasts, experts focus on chemicals
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E-mail China Daily, August 14, 2015
Investigators searched for clues on Friday to identify what caused two huge explosions at a warehouse storing volatile chemicals at a busy port in north China, as foreign and local companies assessed the damage to their operations.
![New cars are heavily damaged at a port next to the warehouse that exploded.[Photo/China Daily]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20150814/7427ea210acc1737eb5332.jpg "New cars are heavily damaged at a port next to the warehouse that exploded.[Photo/China Daily]") |
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New cars are heavily damaged at a port next to the warehouse that exploded.[Photo/China Daily] |
The dangerous chemicals stored in the warehouses that exploded on Wednesday night in Tianjin Port can not be determined at the moment, authorities said at a press conference on Friday.
Gao Huaiyou, deputy director of Tianjin's work safety watchdog, cited major discrepancies between the accounts of company management and customs, and damage to the company's office as reasons they are unable to identify the chemicals.
Cargo is stored in a warehouse for no more than 40 days before being transferred elsewhere, Gao said, adding that the blast sites have been redesigned to contain dangerous chemicals.
At 11:28 am Friday, a small explosion hit the site again and white smoke billowed. Authorities said at the news conference on Friday that by noon all flames will be extinguished and then containers would be moved to safer places and be opened for examination.
Rain is forecast for the blast area Friday afternoon and the 700-ton sodium cyanide could turn deadly poisonous when it reacts with water, Yangtze River Daily said.
Hazardous substances have been detected from two drainage outlets near the blast site in Binhai New Area, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said on Friday morning, refuting rumors that the dangerous participles have polluted the surrounding area.
The harmful pollutants, including chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and cyanide - a highly toxic chemical compound, were found three times and eight times higher than the usual levels, according to the ministry.
The Tianjin municipal environmental watchdog has set up 22 monitoring stations, of which five are checking water quality.
The drainage outlet to the Bohai Sea has been closed, and the bureau is conducting an investigation into water quality.
The blasts in the city of Tianjin on Wednesday night killed at least 55 people, including a dozen fire fighters. About 700 people were injured, 70 seriously.
Rescuers pulled one survivor from the wreckage on Friday, a city official told reporters. Columns of smoke from fires still burning rose from the blast site amid the devastation of crumpled shipping containers, thousands of torched cars and port buildings reduced to burnt-out shells.
Xinhua has reported 18 firefighters remain missing, with 66 among the hundreds of people hospitalised.
The explosions at the port, one of the world's largest, were so big they were seen by satellites in space and registered on earthquake sensors.
A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency's Beijing environmental emergency response centre, as well as 214 Chinese military nuclear and biochemical materials specialists, had gone to Tianjin, Xinhua said.
Several thousand residents were moved to 10 nearby schools after apartment buildings and homes were damaged, mainly by shockwaves from the explosions, it said.
ASSESSING DAMAGE
Foreign companies from across the globe were trying to determine the damage to their facilities in and around the port, a gateway to north China.
Toyota Motor Corp said windows were broken at its passenger vehicle assembly plant but no one was hurt. The Nikkei newspaper said numerous other Japanese companies sustained minor damage to their operations.
French carmaker Renault said more than 1,000 of its cars were damaged but no staff were hurt. Around 4,000 cars belonging to Hyundai Motor Co were at the site but damage had not yet been assessed, a spokesman said.
Mining giant BHP Billiton said its port operations and shipments were disrupted but its iron ore discharging berth had not been damaged.
Oil tanker arrivals and departures were also disrupted.
John Deere & Co, the US farm and construction equipment maker, said several workers who were at home at the time were injured, some critically.
PACKAGING "SUB-STANDARD"
Xinhua identified the owner of the warehouse as Tianjin Dongjiang Port Ruihai International Logistics. Six senior managers of Ruihai Logistics have been taken under control.
The Tianjin Maritime Safety Administration said the company violated packaging standards during a safety inspection two years ago.
Of 4,325 containers that were checked, five failed the inspection because packaging was sub-standard, according to a report posted on the administration's website in January 2014.
The company's website said it was a government-approved firm specialising in handling "dangerous goods". Phone numbers listed on its website were disconnected and an email to the company went unanswered.
President Xi Jinping said those responsible should be "severely handled".
Tianjin city officials had met recently with companies to discuss tightening safety standards on the handling of dangerous chemicals, authorities said.
People and organizations can donate money through the following three channels:
1. Tianjin Charity Association: Address: No. 9, Shiying road, Nankai district, Tianjin Hotline: 022-234-165-98; 022-234-116-67
2. Postal remittance Receiver: Tianjin Charity Association Postal code: 300381 Address: No. 9, Shiying road, Nankai district, Tianjin (Please write on the envelope: Donation for Tianjin blasts and include your contact information)
3. Online donation: Bank: Shiying Road branch, Bank of China Receiver: Tianjin Charity Association Account: 272660066284 (Please write: Donation for Tianjin blasts and include your contact information)
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