A witness captures the huge explosion at a petrochemical plant in east China's Shandong province on Thursday 16 July 2015. Reports say that more than 200 firefighters and 40 fire trucks are battling the fire after tanks containing liquified hydrocarbon leaked and caused the blast. The plant is situated in Rizhao. No casualties are reported thus far The death toll had stood at 85. But on Saturday, the state-run news agency Xinhua said the number of confirmed dead was 105. Flames at the warehouse appeared Friday to be largely extinguished but residents worried about lingering contamination. "I asked my in-laws to take my daughter home. I don't want them to stay here," Tian Binyan, a migrant worker, said. "I'm worried. I heard it's going to rain later and that would make the air toxic." She was among the 6,000 people displaced by the fire and explosions that rocked the port Wednesday night, sending fireballs many stories high. What chemicals did the warehouse store? Tianjin officials said they were unable to give a detailed list of the chemicals stored at the warehouse. Gao Huaiyou, the deputy director of the city's Work Safety Administration, said Friday the warehouse was a temporary storage facility. Materials were kept there briefly after they arrived at the port and before they were transported elsewhere. The warehouse was destroyed by the explosions, he told reporters at a news conference, and managers of the facility have provided "insufficient information" about what was stored there. But Sodium cyanide, a highly toxic chemical that can kill humans rapidly, was one of them, Gao said. The environmental group Greenpeace, citing a local monitoring station, said it believed other dangerous chemicals stored at the site included toluene diisocyanate and calcium carbide. Gao said further investigation, including checks of customs records, would be needed to establish the types and amounts of the chemicals at the warehouse. What is the environmental toll? Chinese officials sent chemical and biological experts to the scene, and 1,000 firefighters were still there on Friday, pouring foam and sand on lingering hotspots, according to authorities. Wen Wurui, Tianjin's environment protection chief, said Thursday that some chemical levels in the area were higher than normal but they would not be dangerous to humans unless someone were exposed to them for long periods. New explosions and fire in Tianjin send smoke into the sky fireworks factory explosion china, china rocket explosion, gas explosion china, tanker explosion china, china airlines explosion, nuclear explosion china, china highway explosion, china sewer explosion, china tunnel explosion, natural gas explosion china, china explosion, lng explosion china, explosion en carretera china, explosion en china, china gas tanker explosion, china road explosion

• published: 15 Aug 2015
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