Two huge blasts rock port city in China

At least 50 deaths have been confirmed and 701 people admitted to hospital with injuries, 71 of those said to be “severe”, following two major explosions in China's northern port city of Tianjin. Twelve firefighters are among those who lost their lives; 36 are still missing.

The blasts happened in a warehouse for hazardous chemicals and caused a huge fireball that could be seen from space.

Around 10,000 medical staff were working at 10 different hospitals to treat survivors, Zhang Yong, a local Communist party official, told a press conference. “We will bring things back on track as soon as possible,” he said.

Four vehicles carrying 214 soldiers trained to deal with nuclear, biological and chemical catastrophes were dispatched to Tianjin, which is around 100 miles from Beijing.

A SERIES OF DANGEROUS EXPLOSIONS

The first explosion occurred at about 23:30 local time (15:30 GMT) on Wednesday in the city's Binhai New Area, a vast industrial zone which houses car factories, aircraft assembly lines and other manufacturing and research firms.

The blast was followed seconds later by another, more powerful blast, and a series of smaller explosions.

Buildings within a 2km radius (1.5 miles) had windows blown out, office blocks were destroyed and hundreds of cars burnt-out.

The blast ripped apart a nearby dormitory for migrant workers, who were forced to flee the collapsing building.

The impact of the explosions could be felt several kilometres away, and was registered as seismic activity at a US Geological Survey monitoring unit in Beijing 160km (100 miles) away.

The China Earthquake 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.

“We are concerned that certain chemicals will continue to pose a risk to the residents of Tianjin”, Greenpeace warned.

They stressed the importance of “monitor the situation closely and release further information on what caused the blast and what chemicals are being released into the air”.

“This will have an impact on measures to fight fires, to protect the residents of Tianjin, and on minimising the potential health and environmental hazards of the blast”, Greenpeace experts concluded.

President Xi Jinping has promised a thorough investigation into what happened and "transparent information disclosure to the public," Xinhua news agency reports.

Chinese media has reported that the blasts happened after a shipment of explosives detonated in a warehouse owned by Ruihai Logistics, a company that specialises in handling dangerous and toxic chemicals.

Tianjin, home to some 15 million people, is a major port and industrial area to the south-east of the Chinese capital, Beijing.

Tests are being undertaken to check pollution levels both in the air and water around Tianjin. Tanker traffic in and out of the port has been disrupted.