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Jeff Head

Jeff Head

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That area is so densely populated...initial reports say hundreds of causalities...I fear they are going to be on the low end.

Reminds me of the film reals of the 1947 Texas City explosion from the ammonium nitrate fertilizer ship, and its aftermath.

468 were killed there...but another 113 never found. They feared hundreds more were killed back then that they just never knew about (like fishermen, or people passing through, or people living homeless back then after the war). Over 5,000 were injured. That area was a lot less densely populated than the Tianjin area.

Prayers up for all of those folks over there.

 
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Jeff Head

Jeff Head

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A news story:

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gCaptain said:
SHANGHAI, Aug 13 (Reuters) – Two massive explosions caused by flammable goods rocked an industrial area in the northeast Chinese port city of Tianjin late on Wednesday, killing 13 people and injuring around 250, the official China Daily newspaper reported.

Pictures posted on Chinese media websites showed fire shooting into the air, nearly twice the height of nearby apartment buildings. Residents and workers, some bleeding, could be seen fleeing the scene.

State broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) said the blasts erupted in a shipment of explosives at around 11:30 p.m. local time, triggering a blast wave that was felt kilometres (miles) away.

The second blast came roughly 30 seconds after the first, CCTV and the official Xinhua news agency said.

Canadian teacher Monica Andrews told the BBC that she awoke in panic after what she thought was an earthquake.

“I … looked out the window and the sky was red … I just watched a second explosion go off and (it was) just pure chaos, everyone leaving their apartment buildings thinking it’s an earthquake, cars trying to leave the complex and … it was crazy the amount of light that this explosion and fire lit up,” she said.

Xinhua said the explosions had ripped through a warehouse storing “dangerous goods”. The first explosion was equivalent to 3 tonnes of TNT and the second blast 21 tonnes of TNT, it said.

Residents in nearby areas said the blasts had shattered windows in buildings, it reported.

Citing a local hospital, Xinhua said people had been hurt by broken glass and stones and some were seriously injured.

CCTV said on its website about 100 fire trucks had been sent to the scene.

Industrial accidents are not uncommon in China following three decades of breakneck economic growth. A blast at an auto parts factory in eastern China killed 75 people a year ago when a room filled with metal dust exploded.
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So the death toll is now 13, and 250 injured.

I fear it will go higher...but perhaps not as high as originally feared because the nearest areas around the major blasts were pretty much all industrial.
 
kwaigonegin

kwaigonegin

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Jeff Head said:
A news story:

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So the death toll is now 13, and 250 injured.

I fear it will go higher...but perhaps not as high as originally feared because the nearest areas around the major blasts were pretty much all industrial.
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I'm no explosive expert but the size and magnitude of that 2nd blast looks to be much much bigger than the equivalent of 21 tons of TNT but I could be totally wrong.
 
Jeff Head

Jeff Head

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Registered Member
kwaigonegin said:
I'm no explosive expert but the size and magnitude of that 2nd blast looks to be much much bigger than the equivalent of 21 tons of TNT but I could be totally wrong.
Click to expand...
I agree that I would have thought it higher too...but still, 42,000 lbs of TNT is still a LOT!
 
SampanViking

SampanViking

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It may be of some comfort that the affected area appears mostly to be Warehouses and Vehicle storage rather than dense residential. The housing blocks affected seem low rise blocks and old styled.
Not trying to belittle the impact, but at least the casualties will be only a fraction of what they otherwise could be.
 
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