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posted by takyon on Sunday August 16 2015, @01:25PM   Printer-friendly
from the free-market dept.

Common Dreams reports:

The death toll from this week's fiery explosions at the Chinese port of Tianjin climbed above 100 on Saturday, while confusion spread over whether authorities had ordered the evacuation of everyone within two miles amid fears of chemical contamination.

[...] Anti-chemical warfare troops have entered the site, according to the BBC.

[...] Two Chinese news outlets, including the state-run The Paper, reported that the warehouse was storing 700 tons of sodium cyanide--70 times more than it should have been holding at one time--and that authorities were rushing to clean it up.

Sodium cyanide is a toxic chemical that can form a flammable gas upon contact with water.

[...] "The company that owned the warehouse where the blasts originated, Rui Hai International Logistics, appears to have violated Chinese law by operating close to apartment buildings and worker dormitories", journalist Andrew Jacobs reports for [NYTimes] (paywall). "Residents say they were unaware that the company was handling dangerous materials."

About 6,300 people have been displaced by the blasts, with around 721 injured and 33 in serious condition, Xinhua news agency said. At least 21 firefighters are reported dead.

Related: Large Warehouse Explosions Injure 300-400 in Tianjin, China

For the adulterated baby formula abuses of 2008 (4 infants dead; 12,892 hospitalized), 2 people were executed. One wonders what will come of this case.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by zocalo on Monday August 17 2015, @06:49AM

    by zocalo (302) on Monday August 17 2015, @06:49AM (#223802)
    Exactly. 700 tonnes or10 tonnes, it shouldn't have made any difference - the initial firefighters on the scene should not have been using water on the fire (if that is indeed what trigged the explosion). If so, there's more culpability here than just Rui Hai's executives; either someone failed to inform the local fire brigade what was on site do they could deal with it correctly or someone didn't train them properly so they didn't know how to deal with it correctly.
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