This is the miracle moment a hero firefighter was pulled from the rubble of the Tianjin explosion after being trapped for 32 hours.
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He is said to have suffered serious burns on his legs and face, and damage to his lungs but is in a stable condition. Eighteen are still missing and 66 have been take to hospital.
A number of port workers are still missing and more than 700 people were wounded in the blast.
Wen Wurui, Tianjin’s environment protection chief, said Thursday that some chemical levels in the area were higher than normal but that they wouldn’t be risky to humans unless someone is exposed to them for long periods.
Shockwaves from the blasts late on Wednesday were felt by residents in apartment blocks kilometres away in the city of 15 million people.
State media said senior management of the company had been detained by authorities, and that President Xi Jinping has demanded severe punishment for anyone found responsible for the explosions.
Witnesses reported crumpled shipping containers being thrown around like matchsticks, hundreds of new cars being set alight and port buildings turned into burnt-out shells.
Many of them have been shifted to makeshift camps in nearby localities amid fears over the spread of toxic chemicals in the area.
Reuters cites chemical experts who said the spraying of water on calcium carbide by firefighters responding to reports of a fire in the warehouse could have triggered an explosion, as the chemical combines with water to create the highly volatile gas acetylene. Some local shops have also voluntarily brought free food and water to blood donation sites for donors.
The National quake Bureau reported that the energy released in the first of the blasts was equivalent to 2.7 tonnes of TNT, and the second 19 tonnes.
She was among the 6,000 or so displaced by the fire and explosions that rocked the port Wednesday night, sending huge fireballs and plumes of smoke into the air.
The cause of the blast is still being investigated. Xinhua also writes that executives of the company whose warehouses went up “have been controlled”.
China has said that it will conduct nationwide inspections of businesses that handle risky chemicals following explosions that killed dozen of people.
At the time of the explosion, the warehouse was storing potassium nitrate, ammonium nitrate and calcium carbide.
Fires are still burning at the scene of the explosions and a team of chemical experts has been called in to the site to test for toxic gases.
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In an interview with the Shanghai-based publication The Paper, a fire official at the Ministry of Public Safety, Lei Jinde, is quoted as confirming that the first wave of firefighters used water to cool down areas on fire.
