At least 12 firefighters are amongst the dead, China’s state Xinhua news agency said, and 36 remain missing.
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The blasts ripped through the Ruihai warehouse, which stores risky goods, at 11.20 PM local time yesterday, following a fire report half an hour earlier.
President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang urged local authorities to make “all-out efforts” to save those injured, thoroughly investigate the cause of the blasts and punish those responsible, Xinhua said. In one clip, a man in an apartment building some distance from the scene watched an initial explosion, which was followed by a second, much larger, blast.
Tianjin resident Zhang Siyu, who lives several kilometres from the site of the blast, said: “I thought it was an quake, so I rushed downstairs without my shoes on”.
The China quake Networks Centre said the magnitude of the first explosion was the equivalent of detonating three tonnes of TNT, while the second was the equivalent of 21 tonnes.
The TV report said the fire still yet to be contained as firefighters can not use water to put it out due to presence of chemicals and instead has to use sand and other materials to contain it. Chinese state media said they happened at a warehouse owned by Rui Hai global Logistics.
Hundreds of people were injured in the explosions shortly before midnight on Wednesday, which sent out massive fireballs that turned the night sky into day and shattered windows several kilometers away.
The death toll was now at 17, with 32 people critically injured and about 280 people in hospital according to latest estimates.
Multiple videos shared on social media show a mushroom cloud erupting into the sky with a quake accompanying the blast.
Reporters and non-essential personnel were being kept six miles away from the site.
Around 1,000 firefighters were dispatched to the scene, and some of them are among the reported casualties.
The incident took place in the city of Tianjin, a port around 90 miles south east of Beijing.
All the windows of her home and the door were destroyed in the explosion, she said.
The second explosion was so powerful that I felt the entire 16-floor-building was shaking, says an eye witness.
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Rescuers are working to removing 700 tons of sodium cyanide, a deadly and explosive toxin that started leaking at the blast site, according to the Chinese newspaper group People’s Daily.
