Any company found not to have corrected any irregularities would be shut and the ministry would “in principle” stop issuing new construction permits for industrial explosives factories.
Advertisement
Chinese state-run media on Monday lambasted officials for a lack of transparency over the explosions, echoing frustrations voiced by Tianjin residents, victims’ relatives and netizens over what they say has been a slow release of information in the aftermath of the explosions. Citizens are now protesting against authorities demanding compensation and answers.
Amid a camp of tents on the grounds of one school, Tao Shunfeng recounted driving a truck through the port when the explosions struck, shattering all the vehicle’s windows. “Kids are asking: How can we grow up healthy?” read another banner.
The city also sounded a siren as more than 300 people, including officials from the Tianjin municipal government, paid silent tribute at a garden in the Binhai New Area, where the warehouse is located. Ruihai’s general manager is in a hospital under police watch.
Bian Jiang, a resident of one of the nearby housing complexes, said he was asleep when the first explosion struck last Wednesday night, shortly before midnight.
A fresh explosion was reported early Monday and plumes of smoke were seen rising from the area just before 08:00 (00:00 GMT), according to China Central Television.
Companies have reported that employees are refusing to show up for work and the cost of the estimated damages from the blasts both to the port area near the site of the disaster, residences, warehouses and business is expected to be massive.
“They haven’t spoke a word to us yet”, she said of the government’s reaction.
The death toll from the two blasts rose to 114, officials said.
As teams specialized in handling hazardous chemicals scrambled to clean up the site, Tianjin’s deputy mayor, He Shushan, confirmed there was about 700 tons of deadly chemical sodium cyanide in the warehouse that blew up. Authorities also said they had sealed all waterways leading into the sea from the blast site and built retention walls to prevent any runoff.
Sodium cyanide 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.
More than 1,000 firefighters, including hundreds from neighboring Hebei province, remain on the scene, said Zhou Tian, the municipal firefighting bureau chief.
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.
Public anger is growing in China following last week’s deadly explosions at a warehouse in the northern port city of Tianjin.
Industrial accidents are not uncommon in China after three decades of fast economic growth.
Advertisement
Well over 100 people were killed and another 70 are still missing.
