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China Scrambles To Hide Toxic Fallout Of Tianjin Chemical Explosion

August 14, 2015

China Scrambles To Hide Toxic Fallout Of Tianjin Chemical Explosion

Two days after an “apocalyptic” explosion in the port city of Tianjin killed at least 50 people and vaporized a bit of excess auto inventory, Chinese officials are struggling to explain what happened and reassure a nervous public.

The blast – footage of which is reminiscent of a nuclear detonation – likely stemmed from what The New York times called a “witches brew” of toxic chemicals warehoused in the industrial zone. That has residents on edge, as many wonder if the air is safe to breathe. Here’s The Times:

They wondered if even the air was safe because of the smoke, still billowing hours later from vestiges of the inferno, which destroyed an industrial zone near the port. Many people wore masks.

“Right now, we don’t know anything,” said Sun Meirong, 52, an office cleaner who descended 13 flights of stairs with her 1-year-old grandson after the explosions blew in her apartment windows and front door.

Questions loomed over the precise reasons the chemicals had ignited, detonating in frightening fireballs that registered on earthquake scales, engulfed hundreds of new cars awaiting export and shattered windows in high-rises a mile away.

At least one chemical known to have been stockpiled at the site, calcium carbide, can emit flammable gases when it becomes wet.Some outside experts speculated that firefighters, in their effort to douse the flames, may have inadvertently contributed to the explosions.

“If enough water gets in there, calcium carbide is going to very quickly decompose,” said Chris Weber, president and chief executive of Dr. Hazmat Inc., a hazardous-chemical consulting concern in Longmont, Colo. “The most likely and most violent reaction would be the calcium carbide.”

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