High levels of toxic chemicals remained inside the core area of Tianjin, China, on Friday, more than a week after a massive warehouse explosion that killed at least 114 people.
Technicians have detected levels of cyanide as much as 356 times the national safe level within the evacuated area, although levels outside the zone show no undue contamination, according to state media reports.
Workers in protective suits have already started clearing wreckage, including charred car remains and crumpled shipping containers, from the site of a chemical warehouse that exploded.
Photo: AFP
Officials have ordered nationwide checks on dangerous materials, and the Chinese military said it was inspecting storage measures for weapons, ammunition and fuel, as well as chemical, explosive and toxic materials, the People’s Liberation Army Daily reported.
Training in the handling of such materials and in executing emergency response plans are also to be stepped up, the newspaper said.
Driving home the importance of such efforts, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and other top leaders yesterday gathered in Beijing to hear a report on progress in investigating the disaster.
“Lately, in some places there have been major industrial safety accidents ... revealing yet again that problems in the area of industrial safety remain prominent and grave,” a statement said.
Safety work needs to be improved and attitudes need to change to “contain the outbreak of major accidents, bring about a fundamental improvement in industrial safety, and safeguard the lives and property of the masses of the people,” the statement added.
Along with safety violations, official corruption was added as a contributing cause of the Aug. 12 disaster in the port city of Tianjin, following revelations on Wednesday that the son of a former police chief, one of two silent owners of the warehouse, used his connections to help obtain licenses despite safety violations.
The other owner is a former executive at a state-owned chemical company, who also used his connections to smooth the way for approval for the facility run by Ruihai International Logistics, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
The explosions that rocked the port city of Tianjin were among China’s worst industrial accidents in recent years and the deadliest on record for the nation’s firefighters, who accounted for 102 of the 179 total dead and missing. Authorities say almost 700 people remain hospitalized, while 30,000 people in and around the area have had their lives significantly affected by the disaster.
A key question is why the warehouse was able to store toxic chemicals, including sodium cyanide, ammonium nitrate and potassium nitrate, even though it was located less than the required 1,000m from homes and public roads — a clear violation of state safety rules.
One explanation offered by the silent owners, identified as former SinoChem executive Yu Xuewei (于學偉) and the late Tianjin port police chief’s son, Dong She-xuan (董社軒), is that they shopped around until they found a licensed safety inspection company that would give its approval.
The two are among at least 10 people reportedly taken into custody, including top officials of the warehouse’s management company.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese