Tianjin Blasts: Latest Developments

[TaiShang]

More than 100 soldiers and police officers held mourning services for victims of Tianjin blasts at the site on Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, a mourning ceremony is also being held at the fire brigade of the Binhai New Area in Tianjin on Tuesday. Nearly 100 firefighters and police officers are paying tribute to the fallen heroes.



August 18 marks the first 7th day since ‪#‎Tianjin‬ blasts occurred on August 12, Chinese traditional date of mourning the dead.

 

[cnleio]

08.18 morning, Local house owners with PLA soldiers return home to take life stuffs.

8月18日上午，在位于爆炸核心区周边的清水蓝湾小区居民继续返回家中取物。期间突遇降雨，武警滨海新区支队官兵紧急护送居民撤离小区。中新网 王胜涛、张凡

 

[Economic superpower]

Just have a feeling US hand is involved in this somehow.

 

[cnleio]

字字泣血！刘明阳妈妈写给儿子的一段话

Hero, Rest in Peace !

 

[Carlosa]

China investigates top work safety regulator after Tianjin blasts
By Megha Rajagopalan

China investigates top work safety regulator after Tianjin blasts - Yahoo News

TIANJIN, China (Reuters) - Authorities are investigating the head of China's work safety regulator, the Communist Party's anti-graft watchdog said on Tuesday, a week after huge blasts in a warehouse storing hazardous chemicals killed 114 people in Tianjin.

State media said the company that operated the warehouse was not licensed to handle hazardous chemicals until two months before the explosions. Protesters have demanded compensation and mourners held memorials for victims earlier on Tuesday.

The explosions late last Wednesday in Tianjin, the world's 10th-busiest port in China's industrial northeast, forced the evacuation of thousands of people after toxic chemicals were detected in the air.

More than 700 people were injured and another 70, mostly fire fighters, are still missing. The blasts devastated a large industrial site and nearby residences nearby.

Investigators have not determined the cause of the blasts but the Tianjin disaster has deepened public concern about work safety regulations. China has struggled in recent years with incidents ranging from mining disasters to factory fires, and President Xi Jinping has vowed that authorities should learn the lessons paid for with blood.

Yang Dongliang, head of the State Administration of Work Safety, is "currently undergoing investigation" for suspected violations of party discipline and the law, China's anti-graft watchdog said in a statement on its website.

The agency is one of many government departments that regulate companies that operate with dangerous materials.

It did not give further details or mention the Tianjin blasts. It was also not possible to reach Yang, a former vice mayor of the city of 15 million people until 2012.

"PEOPLE VALUE SAFETY"

Warehouse owner Tianjin Dongjiang Port Ruihai International Logistics did not have certification to handle dangerous goods between October 2014 and June 2015 but continued to work with hazardous chemicals, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday, citing an unidentified company official.

A filing on the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) website confirmed that Ruihai Logistics did not have the correct license during that period.

Ten people, including Ruihai head Yu Xuewei and deputy head Dong Shexuan, were detained last Thursday, the official People's Daily's reported on its Weibo microblog on Tuesday. It has not been possible to reach the company since Thursday.

The government has confirmed there was about 700 tons of the deadly chemical sodium cyanide in the warehouse that blew up.

Displaced residents vented their frustration at the lack of government transparency at a protest outside a 3-km (2-mile) exclusion zone earlier on Tuesday.

"Chinese people really value safety," said a man, surnamed Zhu, whose home was about a kilometer from the blast site. "Do you think if we knew there were dangerous chemicals so near we would have bought the apartment?"

Hundreds of people who lived near the blast site have demanded that the government arrange compensation or buy back their apartments.

Zong Guoying, party secretary of Tianjin's Binhai district, said a service center had been set up for those whose houses had been damaged.

Fitch Ratings said insurance losses from the explosions could be material for Chinese insurance companies and potentially exceed $1 billion-$1.5 billion.

Several dozen nurses and other medical workers carried white flowers as they observed a period of silence outside a hospital where the injured were being treated, one of several memorials held on Tuesday.

"In life, you are not often confronted with these kinds of disasters, whether natural or man-made," said Ji Tao, a doctor. "The dead have passed away but the living are stronger."

Prosecutors in Tianjin said earlier they were investigating two senior officials from Binhai district on suspicion of corruption, although they did not specify whether the charges were linked to the blasts.

(Additional reporting by Sue-Lin Wong and Brenda Goh in SHANGHAI and Michael Martina in BEIJING; Writing by Sue-Lin Wong and Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Kazunori Takada and Paul Tait)

 

[cnleio]

Drone ...
8月15日，天津警备区滨海新区军事部无人机民兵分队到达灾害中心进行空中搜救。王娇龙摄

 

[Carlosa]

Drone ...
8月15日，天津警备区滨海新区军事部无人机民兵分队到达灾害中心进行空中搜救。王娇龙摄

View attachment 248171 View attachment 248172 View attachment 248173 View attachment 248174 View attachment 248175 View attachment 248176

The company operating the site had been storing hundreds of tonnes of cyanide, reportedly nearly 30 times the allowed amount, and while officials have insisted that the air and water in the city is safe, residents and victims' relatives have voiced scepticism.

'Around 700 tonnes' of sodium cyanide was being stored at the warehouse where the blasts took place, He Shusheng, a Tianjin vice mayor, told a news conference.

The Beijing News said storage plans showed the warehouse was only authorised to hold 24 tonnes of the substance.

Authorities have faced criticism over failing to uphold regulations surrounding the site's operation, notably requirements that warehouses stocking dangerous materials be at least one kilometre from surrounding public buildings and main roads.

 

[mike2000 is back]

USA is a great country and its ruling elite is likely the smartest over the face of earth. I admire USA meritocracy.
This is not a emotional issue, If you read my comment emotionally it's your problem, not mine.
This is not a issue about hates or loves, it's about business.

Slow down China economy is a USA interest. If you dont understand that, sorry for you.
USA ruling elite know perfectly how to protect their interests in a long-term, unlike the Western-european brainless puppets.

Lool So U.S is responsible then. nice 1. lol

Is the U.S also responsible for the many other previous industrial accidents in China??

Dehui poultry plant fire: Locked exits 'blocked escape' - BBC News Hundreds deaths
Shanxi Mine Collapse | Peace and Freedom 281deads, hundreds injured.

Laobaidong Colliery Blasts, 684 dead. The world's worst coal mining disasters - Mining Technology.

Gas blast in China leaves 191 dead, hundreds poisoned.Nation & World | Gas blast in China leaves 191 dead, hundreds poisoned | Seattle Times Newspaper

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2007/12/07/world/asia/07mine.html?referrer=

http://mobile.gazettenet.com/home/13005235-108/factory-blast-leaves-scores-dead-in-china

Explosion Kills Dozens at Eastern China Plant - China Digital Times (CDT)

14 killed in eastern China chemical plant explosion - BBC News

2010 Nanjing chemical plant explosion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


China Fireworks Plant Blast Kills 13, Injures 148

The everlasting story of Chinese industrial accidents | The World of Chinese

Etc etc.....list is long



All caused by the U.S and encouraged by its european puppets.. Even though China has the worse record of industrial accidents of any country in the world by far for a long time now. As i said, this tiajin blast is even reported so much because it was spectacular and happened in one of the worlds biggest seaport close to city center and attracted foreign/world media attention, else it would have been business as usual.

Blaming others but ourselves. Makes us feel good and avoid responsibilities.

 

[Kyusuibu Honbu]

All about sodium cyanide, the extremely toxic chemical found in vast quantities at the Tianjin explosion site - Quartz

Officials investigating a huge explosion at a warehouse in Tianjin in China have discovered a store of 700 tonnes of sodium cyanide—more than 70 times the legal limit allowed. Cyanide has a particularly unpleasant reputation and finding it at a major disaster site is far from welcome. However, if officials act fast they should be able to limit its damaging effects.

What is sodium cyanide?
The term cyanide is clearly understood in the public consciousness to be almost synonymous with poison itself. This is largely because of its use as lethal suicide pill (L-pill) in World War 2, most notably with the suicide of Nazi army officer Erwin Rommel. The cyanide used in the L-pill was potassium cyanide but the properties of sodium cyanide are nearly identical.

An inorganic and very innocent looking white solid with deadly properties, sodium cyanide (NaCN) can be fatal at amounts as little as5% of a teaspoon. It is produced from the equally dangerous gas hydrogen cyanide (HCN) in a simple process with sodium hydroxide.

Why would a company want so much of it?
Sodium cyanide is used industrially across the globe, most frequently in the mining of gold. Although most of us have the traditional imagery of a 19th-century gold miner panning for nuggets, this isn’t the industrial method used today.

Most of the world’s gold is not found in nugget form but as very fine gold powders in rocks. In fact, our cultural demand for gold forces us to mine in rocks that can be as low as 0.005% gold. This means we needindustrial extraction to separate and purify gold from all the other materials.

After mining and milling, the crude rock mixture is turned into a fine powder and added to a solution of sodium cyanide. The gold forms strong bonds with cyanide molecules and can then be separated from the rest of the minerals because it is then soluble in water. It then reacts with zinc and turns back into a solid. Finally is smelted to isolate the gold and cast into bars.

How dangerous is it?
As with the very similar potassium cyanide used in the L-pill, sodium cyanide is extremely toxic to humans. Although there are risks with skin absorption, the biggest risk is ingestion. Inhaling or swallowing sodium cyanide blocks oxygen transport causing serious medical problems and ultimately death.

However, the safety of sodium cyanide changes if it is present during an explosion. Avoiding oral ingestion should usually be relatively simple but an explosion can cause it to be inhaled as a fine powder (this danger should have passed quickly—and face masks will also prevent fine powder inhalation). The biggest fear is the formation of hydrogen cyanide upon exposure to water or high temperatures. Hydrogen cyanide, as a gas, is very dangerous if inhaled.


What if the remaining store leaks?
Contamination of water supplies could be a concern but is easily tested for. The Chinese authorities seem to be treating the spill with hydrogen peroxide, which forms significantly less dangerous fulminates. Waste water and other areas could be simply treated with sodium hypochlorate (bleach) to remove cyanide ions.

The spill is (but more significantly was) very dangerous, especially at these levels. But the nature of cyanides means we can detect them easily and monitor the process of cleaning up. The clean-up should proceed as quickly as possible. The other heartening factor is that after the short-term—albeit very seriously deadly—effects, there should be no slow-onset ramifications, as you would get with a carcinogen or something harder to deal with.

All previous spills have been dealt with easily with no long-term effects and the procedures are well known, so all the hydrogen cyanide in Tianjin should now be gone. The solid sodium cyanide is not so dangerous in passing: you can open a bottle with 3,000 times the lethal dose without any problems (without letting it react with moisture and convert to hydrogen cyanide). The advice for anyone nearby would be to avoid drinking the contaminated water and stay out of the area while the hydrogen cyanide is processed by natural biochemical pathways and climate dilution to safe levels.

 

[cnleio]

The company operating the site had been storing hundreds of tonnes of cyanide, reportedly nearly 30 times the allowed amount, and while officials have insisted that the air and water in the city is safe, residents and victims' relatives have voiced scepticism.

'Around 700 tonnes' of sodium cyanide was being stored at the warehouse where the blasts took place, He Shusheng, a Tianjin vice mayor, told a news conference.

The Beijing News said storage plans showed the warehouse was only authorised to hold 24 tonnes of the substance.

Authorities have faced criticism over failing to uphold regulations surrounding the site's operation, notably requirements that warehouses stocking dangerous materials be at least one kilometre from surrounding public buildings and main roads.

Right, that's the reason why PLA sent anti-chemical warfare corps into the blast area to find those chemicals, especially the 700ton sodium cyanide. They found it and Tianjin prepare hundred tons of hydrogen peroxide from factory to deal with the problem ... later days working is to collect those dangerous chemicals, the PLA anti-chemical warfare soldiers will stay in Tianjin seaport until to all chemicals disposed.

Just i read news reported the Director of State Administration of Work Safety get arrested by CCP Inspection Commission, might due to Tianjin blast. 国家安监总局局长杨栋梁被查

中央纪委监察部官网8月18日消息，国家安全生产监督管理总局局长、党组书记杨栋梁涉嫌严重违纪违法，目前正接受组织调查。

天津“8·12”爆炸事故发生后，杨栋梁连夜赶赴现场。另据新华网消息，昨天（8月17日）晚上，杨栋梁还出席了在天津召开的国务院工作组和天津抢险救援指挥部联席会议。

 

[mike2000 is back]

Just have a feeling US hand is involved in this somehow.

Definitely.

 

[Capt.Popeye]

The company operating the site had been storing hundreds of tonnes of cyanide, reportedly nearly 30 times the allowed amount, and while officials have insisted that the air and water in the city is safe, residents and victims' relatives have voiced scepticism.

'Around 700 tonnes' of sodium cyanide was being stored at the warehouse where the blasts took place, He Shusheng, a Tianjin vice mayor, told a news conference.

The Beijing News said storage plans showed the warehouse was only authorised to hold 24 tonnes of the substance.

Authorities have faced criticism over failing to uphold regulations surrounding the site's operation, notably requirements that warehouses stocking dangerous materials be at least one kilometre from surrounding public buildings and main roads.

There was even more HAZMAT stored in that facility;stuff like Calcium Carbide. Actually, it is surmised that the initial response of the Fire-Fighting teams may have aggravated the the issue, they used Water to fight the first fire. That water released Acetylene Gas after reacting with the Calcium Carbide wich caused the Huge Fireball in the second explosion. Besides, the water reacted with the Sodium Cyanide and has released Hydrogen Cyanide, which may have run-off in to the soil, potentially contaminating ground water.

More on this aspect, at :
Chinese Media Lambast Tianjin Officials Over Blast Response

 

[Carlosa]

Right, that's the reason why PLA sent anti-chemical warfare corps into the blast area to find those chemicals, especially the 700ton sodium cyanide. They found it and Tianjin prepare hundred tons of hydrogen peroxide from factory to deal with the problem ... later days wokring is to collect those dangerous chemicals, the PLA anti-chemical warfare soldiers will stay in Tianjin seaport until to all chemicals disposed.

Just i read news reported the Director of State Administration of Work Safety get arrested by CCP Inspection Commission, might due to Tianjin blast. 国家安监总局局长杨栋梁被查

View attachment 248187

This has the word CORRUPTION written all over, that's how that warehouse was able to operate. Some heads need to fall.

 

[cnleio]

This has the word CORRUPTION written all over, that's how that warehouse was able to operate. Some heads need to fall.

Standard Power-for-Money deal under table in a developing country ... blast coming soon without safety supervision.

 

[Jlaw]

This has the word CORRUPTION written all over, that's how that warehouse was able to operate. Some heads need to fall.

We are a developing country. We are not developed like Spain and Vietnam. Therefore we are corrupted.