China Blasts: Casualties In Tianjin Port City Explosions - BBC News

[6Foot2]

Link: China blasts: Casualties in Tianjin port city explosions - BBC News

 

...State media said the blasts happened in a warehouse storing "dangerous and chemical goods" in the port area of the city.,,

 

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/1F6D/production/_84854080_cmqtxvowiaalfun.jpg

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeXBME2YVQo

[synaesthesia]

Probably caused by a chinese iPhone knockoff's battery.

[CAM]

The blast destroyed everything within a 2km radius.

 

I heard the city suffered an explosion big enough to be seen from space but seeing the video, wow! It dwarfs the city, like a small nuclear bomb going off.

[Dos_Box]

Apparently one report said that 21 tons of explosive went up. I have asked a question on another forum I frequent where there are explosive experts on there to get a rough guess at the energy involved in the blast as 21 tons of explosives does not neccercerily equate to 21 tons of TNT.

I'll let you know what kind of figures thay come up with.

If the size of the tower blocks in front of the blast are anything to go by it may be in the (very) small tac nuc area.

[synaesthesia]

Harsh, but that sort of thing never surprises me from China. Health, safety and basic common sense and morals appear to be absolutely foreign concepts to them.

[6Foot2]

Link: Photos of the Aftermath of the Massive Explosion in Tianjin, China - The Atlantic [32 photos]

 

http://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/photo/2015/08/photos-of-the-aftermath-of-the-mass/t08_483765060/main_900.jpg?GE2DGOJUG44TCOBVFYYA====

 

Photo: AFP / Getty

[Arthur]

http://vgy.me/uf4OLk.jpg

[jinnantonnixx]

That's one hell of a mess. One theory doing the rounds is that the fireman weren't told about the nature of the stored chemicals. The water they used to extinguish the fire hit a cache of something that must be kept dry: lithium, sodium, or such like. Edited August 17, 2015 by jinnantonnixx

[Dos_Box]

I've been following this thread here: Chinese crackers, in the bad way | Page 8 | Army Rumour Service

Lots of the people there know about things either chemical, H&S and explosives related. Some very interesting comments, especially when it comes to what chemicals were potentially involved and what the effects of dousing them in water does!

[JJonas]

Dashboard camera captures China blast shockwave - BBC News

 

Look what it does to the barrier.

[witch]

We were in Cuba watching CNN when this came up. The news anchor kept talking about "amazing" footage of the explosion, completely missing the fact that what we were watching was people dying

[AMLinington]

We were in Cuba watching CNN when this came up. The news anchor kept talking about "amazing" footage of the explosion, completely missing the fact that what we were watching was people dying

 

Not as many as COULD have been killed in such a massive blast - I caught LeFiance watching it on his phones' news app and I thought he was watching one of those found-footage movie trailers. It looked like something out of Hollywood - I can't believe it was an accident tbh.

[PotNoodleTech]

The footage is like something out of a disaster movie. I can't believe more people were not killed or injured given the scale of the explosions.

 

It's beyond that the authorities don't even have any idea what was being stored there. I guess the price of lithium batteries is going to go through the roof now.

[CAM]

Suspected to be caused by Sodium Cyanide. CDC - The Emergency Response Safety and Health Database: Systemic Agent: SODIUM CYANIDE - NIOSH

 

A read of that Hazchem document shows how horrible a substance it is. Death comes in minutes, the P in CPR cannot be carried out due to the patient's breath and/or vomit carrying toxic fumes and the substance reacts to most fire-fighting materials, such as water, foam and Carbon Dioxide, releasing highly explosive gas. The substance can be absorbed by inhalation, ingestion or skin contact and for most people it has no scent, for those who do smell bitter almonds they have probably inhaled lethal quantities already. Large breakouts require a 3 mile daytime and 8 mile night time cordon.

 

And this stuff is now expected to be in the region's water table and atmosphere.

[6Foot2]

Link: China explosion: Fires at Shandong chemical plant - BBC News

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acW52C67h68