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Fire has gutted an industrial site in China and it has left dozens of people dead and many residents have been displaced. Many of the surviving ones are feared poisoned by toxic substances emanating from the flame. The fire incident occurred after an explosion at the industrial site. The Chinese authorities made effort to put out the fire on Friday and to also identify the particular dangerous chemical that could have caused it.

The explosion occurred in Tianjin, a northern port city. According to aid personnel, the explosion killed up to 50 people and up to 700 got various degrees of injury. The authorities were trying to track down the cause as at Friday, but have not arrived at a conclusion on what could have been responsible. Efforts to track down the cause were still on course as the time this news was put together.

However, Greenpeace, a Chinese media and environment group had indicated that so many things could have been responsible for the explosion, since many potentially harmful chemicals are stored on the explosion site.   They hinted that the explosion could have been caused by combination of a number of the chemicals.

Before the explosion, according to Beijing News’ initial report, sodium cyanide amounting to at least 700 tonnes was stored at the site. Aside this, there are other poisonous and dangerous chemicals equally stored there.  The nearby drainage also contains considerable amount of dangerous chemicals.   

As at Friday, the report given above by the Beijing News had disappeared from their website. This indicates the possibility of the Chinese government clamping down on any sensitive information that relates to the tragedy.

Biochemical and nuclear material experts numbering up to 217 had been drafted from the Chinese military to Tianjin to help in inspecting the site for clues pointing to the cause of the explosion and to prevent further damage, according to official Xinhua news agency.

As at the time of filing this report, dozens of people are still missing. The Chinese authorities are still scooping the explosion site in an attempt to locate any other survivor. During the search and rescue mission operation on the site, a 19 year old firefighter was pulled out from under the rubbles, forcing everyone around to erupt in cheers.

There are uncertainties of whether or not chemicals are still leaking at the site of the explosion. Up to a thousand firefighters are still battling with the fire at the site and smoke, which could probably contain toxic chemicals, was still billowing all over the area.

Environmental experts organized a press conference where they told newsmen that the air in the area is very safe to breathe as toxic gas indicator showed that the air is within normal range of safety. Many police could be seen in the area with some of them putting on gas mask, while some other ones were not wearing any.  Warnings had been sent out by Greenpeace that the toxic chemicals could be washed into water system by rain and counseled the authorities to keep a close watch on the situation and to also identify the cause of the explosion on time.

By Anthony Olawale Ojo