Miscellaneous News

no_name said:

Not sure if I should say that he was very unlucky or very lucky. Probably both.

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NBC said:

TIANJIN, China — Authorities pulled more bodies from a massive blast site in the Chinese port of Tianjin, pushing the death toll to 112 on Sunday as teams scrambled to clear dangerous chemical contamination.

More than 700 people were injured and 95 people — including dozens of firefighters — are missing after a fire and rapid succession of blasts late Wednesday hit a warehouse for hazardous chemicals in a mostly industrial area of Tianjin, 75 miles east of Beijing.

By Sunday, authorities confirmed there were "several hundred" tons of the toxic chemical sodium cyanide on the site at the time of the blasts, although they said there have not been any devastating leaks.

Sodium cyanide is a toxic chemical that can form a flammable gas upon contact with water, and several hundred tons would be a clear violation of rules cited by state media that the warehouse could store no more than 10 tons at a time.

Tianjin officials have ordered a citywide check on any potential safety risks and violation of fire rules. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was in Tianjin on Sunday, visiting those injured and displaced by the disaster.

Angry relatives of the missing firefighters and local residents whose homes were destroyed by the blasts showed up at a government news conference Sunday to demand information and accountability.

The death toll includes at least 21 firefighters — making the disaster the deadliest for Chinese firefighters in more than six decades — and their toll could go much higher. About 1,000 firefighters responded to the disaster, and 85 of them remained unaccounted for on Sunday.

The public has raised concerns whether firefighters were put into harm's way in the initial response to the fire and whether the hazardous material — including compounds combustible on contact with water — was properly taken into account in the way the firefighters responded.

The massive explosions late Wednesday night happened about 40 minutes after reports of a fire at the warehouse and after an initial wave of firefighters arrived and, reportedly, doused some of the area with water.

Outside the Mayfair Hotel, where the authorities hold regular news conferences, a woman pleaded Sunday for information on her husband.

"They have said nothing. We know nothing," the woman said. "We've been told nothing."

Another man demanded information from a government official. "We've been here for three days, and we've not had one piece of information," he said.

Local officials have been hard-pressed to explain why authorities permitted hazardous goods warehouses so close to residential complexes and critical infrastructure. Homeowners of the nearby Qihang residential compound on Sunday unfurled banners demanding government accountability and proper compensation for their damaged homes.

Authorities temporarily detected the highly toxic hydrogen cyanide in the air slightly above safety levels at two locations, Tianjin environmental official Bao Jingling told a news conference Sunday morning. The contamination Saturday afternoon, at 4 percent and 50 percent above the safety level, was no longer detectable later Saturday, Bao said. "These levels are actually very low," he said. Bao said the cyanide was yet to be detected in water samples.

Authorities were keeping residents, journalists and other people not involved in the disaster response outside a 3-kilometer (1.8-mile) radius around the site of the explosions in what media reports said was an operation to clean up the sodium cyanide.

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vesicles said:

Condolences to the firefighters. They are the true heroes. They rush to the danger when everyone else runs away.

I have a question about the ground zero. New photos show a small lake in the ground zero. Many think that the blast itself made the hole in the ground, which was then later filled with water. I don't believe that. It's impossible for the blast itself to make a hole that big. Especially since the blast occurred in a building, part of which still stands now. Could someone explain how this hole formed?

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The BBC's Jo Floto, in Beijing, says it is clear that many of the rules designed to keep people safe in Tianjin were bent, broken or ignored.

There have also been real questions about the leadership and training of the firefighters who arrived first on the scene on Wednesday, he adds - all but a handful are missing or dead.

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plawolf said:

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The BBC's Jo Floto, in Beijing, says it is clear that many of the rules designed to keep people safe in Tianjin were bent, broken or ignored.

There have also been real questions about the leadership and training of the firefighters who arrived first on the scene on Wednesday, he adds - all but a handful are missing or dead.

I take real, serious exception to that pathetic cheap shot above.

Laying blame at the feet of brave people who are not around to defend themselves.

Seems like the only "basis" for this disgusting slur is the fact that so many firefighters died. However, the frigging thing went up like a tactical nuke, no amount of training, leadership or safety equipment would have made the least bit of difference.

Its exactly the same as if someone said the 9/11 first responders were poorly led or trained because so many of them died.

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PanAsian said:

There will always be those in the press and the public, including people who lost loved ones, who jump to conclusions without knowing how a tragedy happened or what caused it. Whatever the reason it is good for others to point that out, even better is for the investigating authorities to be as prompt, thorough, and open as possible in finding out what happened and communicating with the public. Obviously with something this destructive evidence may be difficult to come by, if for example someone was smoking while handling flammable materials, and people need to understand that.

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