Breaking: Massive Explosions Rock China's Tianjin
At least two major explosions tore through Tianjin in eastern China on Wednesday night. According to Xinhua, the shockwaves from the blasts "were felt kilometers away" and shattered windows.
Chinese media reports indicated that the blasts occurred around 11:30 p.m. local time. People's Daily tweeted that the "quake" from the blast was "felt 10 km away." In a separate tweet, People's Daily cited the China Earthquake Network Center as saying that two explosions had occurred within 30 seconds, one magnitude 2.3 ML (or Richter magnitude) and [the] other magnitude 2.9 ML.
The number of casualties is still unknown; Xinhua's official report (issued at around 3 a.m. local time) noted "at least 50" people injured, while the official Twitter account of People's Daily said a local hospital "has received 300-400 injured." No deaths have been confirmed as of this writing, but two firefighters have been reported missing.
Update: People's Daily is now reporting 13 dead.
There were conflicting reports as to the cause of the blast. Initial speculation suggested the cause was gas or oil-related, possibly connected to the liquid natural gas (LNG) terminal in Tianjin. By around 3 a.m. local time, official Chinese media sources were reporting that the explosion started at a warehouse in the Binhai New Area of Tianjin, where "dangerous goods" were being stored.
CCTV had the most specific information, citing the Tianjin Public Security Bureau as saying that the explosion occurred at the Tianjin Dongjiang Port Rui Hai International Logistics Co. Ltd, "which handles the transport of hazardous goods." Xing Zheming of CCTV America said the first explosion involved flammable materials; the second involved oil.
Update: People's Daily reports that a representative from Rui Hai is being questioned in connection with the explosion.
Related Stories
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.
Landslide, Explosion Strike Shenzhen
In Shenzhen (which lies directly north of Hong Kong), a mound of soil and construction waste, piled against the side of a hill, gave way on Sunday. Official reports say that 91 people are missing after the disaster. At least 33 buildings were damaged.
A major gas pipeline in the area exploded at around the same time. The local government attributed the explosion to the landslide.
- Channel News Asia
- South China Morning Post
- NBC News
- Telegraph
- Bloomberg
- Reuters (video without narration)
- New York Times
- BBC
- China Economic Review
- iCrossChina
- CNN
[More After the Break]
(Score: 4, Informative) by Tork on Wednesday August 12 2015, @11:08PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by Tork on Thursday August 13 2015, @01:00AM
Mod my original comment anything else, even troll, just please don't leave it as 'funny'.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by Hartree on Thursday August 13 2015, @04:17AM
"that took several seconds to arrive"
Between 5 and 6 seconds, so it was about a mile away from the person taking the video. I was impressed by the force it still had, and also was surprised the window didn't break.
(Score: 5, Informative) by pkrasimirov on Thursday August 13 2015, @04:58AM
It would be nice to actually link the videos, you know. Here we go:
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4tcogniDXE [youtube.com] -- the observed blast wave
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZDStWwx-jk [youtube.com] -- closer observation
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCX79AboDBc [youtube.com] -- more footage
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBPPmTe2a-w [youtube.com] -- 5 sec video Sarah-Connor-nightmares style
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YghkkJ1rG84 [youtube.com] -- aftermath, aerial view
(Score: 3, Informative) by AnonTechie on Thursday August 13 2015, @06:19AM
Additional coverage provided by BBC [bbc.com]
Albert Einstein - "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
(Score: 2) by Hartree on Thursday August 13 2015, @06:53AM
Unless I miss my picture interpretation of the photos on the BBC site, the blast happened just across the street from the port police station and fire department.
Even at 11 pm at night, both those places would be manned. The police station is now just a blown out shell and I can't tell if the fire station is still standing for all the smoke in the picture.
Link to the page with pictures: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-33844086 [bbc.com]
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Thursday August 13 2015, @11:44AM
No kidding. One video looks exactly like something out of a Michael Bay film. The explosion occurs, then you can catch 2-3 frames of the fireball pushing through a wall or building ahead of the view before the camera gets dropped.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 2) by cafebabe on Thursday August 13 2015, @03:03PM
It reminded me more of a bad Neal Stephenson novel [wikipedia.org]. In particular:-
1702845791×2
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 12 2015, @11:37PM
(Begin cheesy commercial. overly enthusiastic Chinese salesman pitching services)
Hey! You have exprosive? (pans to pile of loose dynamite on floor)
You have nat-tuwal gas or other ting that go boom or poison? (pans to rusty, leaking tanks with hazardous/flammable/explosive warning labels while smoking man tends to them)
Then call Tianjin Dongjiang Port Rui Hai International Logistics Co! We store anyting dangewos for you!
See owa secure facirity on port, comprete with secuwity god (pans to sleeping chinaman in ramshackle booth next to gate secured with duct tape).
We move safery all good! (shot in warehouse, forklift collides with stanchion, pallet with container crashes to ground spilling liquid that causes workers nearby to collapse)
We package good right here. fast fast fast! (smoking chinaman shown banging long nails into shoddy, crooked looking wooden crate with fragile & poison sticker on it)
We keep dane-ger-ous good safe for you! No wait! You call now! (commercial ends with video of warehouse explosion seen in news video)
(Score: 3, Funny) by Tork on Wednesday August 12 2015, @11:52PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 4, Funny) by c0lo on Thursday August 13 2015, @12:48AM
A new peak in job relocation in China: they manage to do it to themselves better than any terrorist can.
(Yes, I know, a callous attempt of a joke, maybe not even a good one.
I'm in a grim mood this morning, feel free to mod as troll)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by mendax on Wednesday August 12 2015, @11:53PM
This hit the news hours and hours ago.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday August 12 2015, @11:57PM
NPR, Reuters, WSJ, Los Angeles Times, etc. all have stories on this that seem to be less than an hour old.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by mendax on Thursday August 13 2015, @12:18AM
The NY Times had it at noon, or there abouts.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday August 13 2015, @12:41AM
Quick, we need a conspiracy theory that they had it first because they did it...
What? If the NSA had a press arm, i'm sure quite a few SN people would believe that one...
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday August 13 2015, @12:50AM
Quite very few, I hope. Are you sure you don't mistake SN from slashdolt?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday August 13 2015, @12:57AM
Every bug post, or service backdoor or even the laziness of not encrypting fingerprint images (and that's just today), is instantly met with posts summarizable as: "it's so convenient for #TLA to spy on All Of us/Us/US". Which get upvoted.
A small number of posters maybe, but a noisy minority.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday August 13 2015, @01:07AM
Yes, I know, Hanlon's razor.
But... there is point beyond which stupidity and maliciousness are indistinguishable. Beyond that point even hypothesizing about the reasons/motives behind the state of fact is moot in the face of the consequences.
See my other comment [soylentnews.org] as an exemplification of the above
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Touché) by LoRdTAW on Thursday August 13 2015, @12:44AM
Yea man, soylent has been slipping lately. I mean such a large, well respected media outlet staffed by hundreds of well paid journalists and owned by billionaire NCommander certainly could do a lot better.
(Score: 2) by hankwang on Thursday August 13 2015, @07:32AM
At noon, ok, but in what time zone?
Avantslash: SoylentNews for mobile [avantslash.org]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2015, @02:05AM
"Breaking news" means that it was news to most readers of this site as of just a few hours ago, and furthermore, it is developing so quickly that the writeup provided by the links is likely to be quite stale 24 hours from now.
So yeah, breaking news.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2015, @03:47AM
That was a few years before I got to Cali.
San Pedro is west of Long Beach.
People I know from Long Beach gave me details of the damage miles away and how loud the sound was.
Berth 46 [wikimapia.org]
SS Sansinena (Liberian Registry) [wikipedia.org]
Transcript [ark.com]
(That's pretty much all of the Los Angeles Basin.)
.
Wanna bet this thing in China is because someone didn't do his job and didn't stick to the checklist?
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2015, @11:49AM
Wanna bet this thing in China is because someone didn't do his job and didn't stick to the checklist?
https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?cid=221716&sid=8949 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 14 2015, @04:33AM
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=dc0_1439444275 [liveleak.com]
You can see the ground splitting outwards towards him as the video cuts... (he's obviously dead)a
Another video.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=052_1439456804 [liveleak.com]