Scores of Chinese firefighters are still missing following the massive explosions that hit an industrial area in Tianjin, officials have said. At an official press conference on Sunday, authorities announced that the death toll had risen to 112, but added that 95 people had been confirmed missing – including 85 firefighters.
Al Jazeera’s Adrian Brown, reporting from Tianjin, a port city in the country’s northeast, said it was now possible that the death toll will climb past 200, “making it one of China’s worst industrial accidents”. Authorities evacuated residents living near the industrial site on Saturday as fears spread that toxic substances were spreading.
Brown said that officials have still not been able to identify the cause of the explosion, but the disaster is believed to have started at a warehouse of shipping containers with hazardous materials.
“What the people in this city want is reliable information,” he said. Officials have listed a litany of chemicals that may have been at the hazardous goods storage facility when the explosions happened, but have been unable to say precisely which ones were present. Potassium nitrate and ammonium nitrate are believed to have been there. Chinese reports said 700 tonnes of sodium cyanide were at the site, and officials called in experts from producers of the material to help handle it. Hydrogen peroxide, which neutralises it, has been used.
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