The Chinese government is trying to keep a lid on the two recent big explosions in the northern port city of Tianjin, with its cause unknown until now. However, authorities did say that the explosions had started in a warehouse owned by a company called Ruihai Logistics, which was known for handling chemicals like sodium cyanide and toluene diisocyanate.
A nearby workers' dormitory was also destroyed. According to a report by BBC news, the explosion, which killed at least 50 people and injured hundreds, with 71 of them in critical condition, left much of the city crippled. The industrial port area and many of its buildings were also destroyed by the blast. More than 3,500 residents have also been displaced and are currently at evacuation centers in safe areas of the city.
According to Newser, the residents said that the explosions were as strong as an earthquake. The fires have already been contained as the firefighting efforts have been suspended in the wake of the arrival of a team of 200 Chinese military chemical experts assigned to investigate the cause of the explosion.
Thousands of new cars like Renaults and Volkswagens were also part of the casualties, after being affected by the fires caused by the explosions.
Government-run news agency Xinhua also reported that 1,000 medics in the Binhai News District have been sent in the city, home to more than 15 million people. In the report, it is said that most of the injured had "glass or shrapnel cuts, or skull injuries and fractures."
The tragedy has also brought focus to Chinese media censorship, after social media lit after a video of CNN reporter Will Ripley, reporting in a Tianjin hospital, spread like wildfire. According to a report by Ejinsight, while the reporter was on a live broadcast, a man was said to have shouted: "We don't need foreigners to help Chinese cover stories" in their local language. The man even interrupted Ripley, demanding that the video footage should be deleted. Only Xinhua, Communist Party news agency People's Daily, and local media have been allowed extensive coverage of the tragedy.
