Death Toll Rises To 121 In China Port Explosion

Mon, 08/24/2015 - 11:02am

The Associated Press

Get today's industrial maintenance & plant operations headlines and news - Sign up now!

 

Chinese soldiers, policemen and paramilitary policemen bow their heads at a memorial service for victims of the Tianjin blasts near the disaster's epicenter in northeastern China's Tianjin municipality Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2015. Thunderstorms on Tuesday complicated recovery efforts from last week's massive deadly explosions at a warehouse in Tianjin's port that exposed dangerous chemicals — including some that could become flammable on contact with water. (Chinatopix Via AP)

The death toll has risen to 121 in the chemical warehouse explosion in the northern Chinese port of Tianjin, while another 54 people remain unaccounted for, the city government said Saturday.

 

Among the dead from the Aug. 12 disaster are 67 firefighters, while another 37 firefighters missing, the government said on its official microblog.

It said that 11 policemen are also among the dead and missing, making it the worst disaster for first responders in recent Chinese history.

The cause of the disaster is still under investigation, although state media reports say the warehouse storing sodium cyanide and other dangerous chemicals was located too close to residential areas and may have obtained falsified safety approvals.

Technicians have detected levels of cyanide as much as 356 times the safe level within a 3-kilometer-radius (1.8-mile-radius) of the evacuated area, although no abnormal contamination was found outside the area.

Small animals such as rabbits, pigeons and chickens have been placed in the disaster zone to test whether it is safe for humans, while workers in hazmat suits clear charred car bodies, crumpled shipping containers and other wreckage from the area.

所有跟帖： 

• 等閱兵完了這事也就忘的差不多了。 -望自遠方- ♂ (0 bytes) () 08/24/2015 postreply 10:25:26

• 哪裏等的了那麽久? 昨天今天的報導就幾乎沒有天津什麽事兒了。 -皇爺- ♂ (45 bytes) () 08/24/2015 postreply 10:49:30