Multiple Explosions rock Tianjin, China

[Gottesstrafe]

Honestly surprised no one has posted about this yet. Apparently a series of explosions occurred today (or late yesterday depending on your timezone) in the Binhai district of Tianjin, China, resulting in giant fireballs and showering fleeing civilians with debris and shards of glass. By latest estimates at least 44 people were killed and between 300-400 injured.

Couldn't find a youtube upload of this one [https://sendvid.com/i7pcfexm]​

Though details are hazy about what series of events led to the fire that triggered the explosions, it's been reported that the first blast occurred at a container storage station which then triggered a second blast at a nearby hazardous chemical storage plant owned by Ruihai International Logistics. Seismologists tracking the explosions at the China Earthquake Networks Center reported that the first blast registered as a magnitude 2.3 earthquake with the second at 2.9, or the equivalent of detonating 3 tons of TNT and 21 tons respectively. The shock waves following the explosions were said to have been strong enough to be felt kilometers away by onlookers. Authorities report that there are over a thousand firefighters at the scene, 12 of which lost their lives to the explosions and 36 of which all contact was lost. Current firefighting efforts following the second explosion have been stymied due to the unknown content and quantities of hazardous chemicals that may have been released from the plant. Local authorities have prompted people in neighboring districts to close their windows against possible poisonous gases. High-ranking officials of Ruihai International Logistics are being held in custudoy in lieu of an investigation.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/12/asia/china-port-explosion/
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/12/explosion-in-tianjin-china.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-33896292
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Tianjin_explosion

Edit: Apparently Chinese authorities were reportedly attempting to censor professional and social media reports, people on Reddit are complaining that their comments and videos are being deleted off of social media sites.

Edit 2: Casualties have been bumped up to 50 confirmed deaths and over 500 injured. Some of the chemicals being stored in the plant involved in the second explosion have been identified, including sodium cyanide, toluene diisocyanate and calcium carbide. With a local forecast of rain tomorrow, this is especially worrying considering that calcium carbide reacts with water to produce the acetylene gas utilized in welding and cutting torches.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/13/asia/china-tianjin-explosions/

 

[HardkorSB]

Here's a good montage of different angles along with some subtitles and aftermath pictures at the end:

 

[Fdzzaigl]

It's insane what happened there. I wonder what the heck they were storing exactly and how such a massive failure was possible.

Also, I hope they draw the right conclusion from this and make sure no volatile chems are stored near residential areas in the future.

 

[Queen Michael]

Hooooooooly shit. What the FUDGE happened here? This is pretty damn nasty!

And if firefighters died, does that mean they sent them in before they were sure the explosions were over?

 

[Neverhoodian]

Holy hell, that must have been terrifying to witness firsthand. It was sobering enough watching it from halfway around the world.

What an awful incident.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Wow, that shock wave. That must've been terrifying to experience first hand.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Holy shit! That's scary.

Worst thing I ever witnessed was a transformer exploding after a car hit a power pole.
Much closer, but pretty wimpy.

That though... Wow. Looks as though the shockwave knockec the second guy off his feet too.
That's terrifying, for sure.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Oh dear, this is the first i've heard. What in maker's name were they storing and will we ever get the full story? Darn Chinese secrecy.

 

[madwarper]

This is a tragedy. However, this just underscores the dangers of building such densely packed residential area on top of industrial area.

 

[Gottesstrafe]

That's unbelievable. It looks like it had to be explosives, nothing else would have done that much damage.

Given the size and shape of the fireball from the first explosion, people are speculating that it was from some sort of large natural gas repository. Whether or not it was the result of negligence, accident, or deliberate remains to be seen.

Hooooooooly shit. What the FUDGE happened here? This is pretty damn nasty!

And if firefighters died, does that mean they sent them in before they were sure the explosions were over?

Looking at the first video it's probably likely they were responding to the fire preceding the explosion and just happened to be unlucky enough to be caught in them.

 

[Fdzzaigl]

Quoting an article in The Guardian. [http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/13/tianjin-explosions-china-sends-troops-cleanup]

Official Chinese reports have blamed the blasts ? so powerful they threw vehicles into the air and brought factory roofs crashing down ? on hazardous chemicals stored in a warehouse owned by a company called Ruihai International Logistics.

The environmental group Greenpeace said the situation in Tianjin, which is home to around 14 million people, remained volatile and potentially dangerous. ?We are concerned that certain chemicals will continue to pose a risk to the residents of Tianjin,? it said.

?According to the Tianjin Tanggu environmental monitoring station, hazardous chemicals stored by the company concerned include sodium cyanide (NaCN), toluene diisocyanate (TDI) and calcium carbide (CaC2), all of which pose direct threats to human health on contact. NaCN in particular is highly toxic. CaC2 and TDI react violently with water and reactive chemicals, with risk of explosion. This will present a challenge for firefighting and, with rain forecast for tomorrow, is a major hazard.?

The death toll has risen to 50 already.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

I saw a clip of the explosions. They're fucking terrifying. They looked like Michael Bay explosions on steroids, except in real life, which is an absolute horror to imagine witnessing firsthand. It's honestly an end of the world level sight.

 

[Gottesstrafe]

That's unbelievable. It looks like it had to be explosives, nothing else would have done that much damage.

Given the size and shape of the fireball from the first explosion, people are speculating that it was from some sort of large natural gas repository. Whether or not it was the result of negligence, accident, or deliberate remains to be seen.

That would be almost unbelievable unless they were in the process of exploiting it without any eye to safety. There would have to be some kind of collapse leading to a massive release, otherwise you get a big fire, not a fireball.

Perhaps repository was the wrong word, how about "natural gas storage facility"? The main thrust of the theory is that given the way the fireball formed, the initial fire and smaller explosions it triggered must have ripped open some large underground storage tanks. The tanks explode due to the pressure they're under, but the lack of oxygen allows the gas to quickly expand and spread upward before itself igniting and resulting in the giant fireball. Also, it was the second explosion in the chemical plant that resulted in the blast with the equivalent destructive force of 21 tons of TNT being detonated, the first one was 3 tons.

 

[Fdzzaigl]

That's bad, but they're not claiming that's actually the cause of the explosion, right?

If the authorities "blame" the explosions on the chemicals stored there, then I guess that's what they think caused it. Possibly a violent reaction between the chemicals that then turned into some sort of chain reaction.

Honestly I don't know, but it's gonna be bad if it rains with all that shit still lying around anyhow.

 

[RandV80]

Note to self: If you see a massive fireball

Here's a good montage of different angles along with some subtitles and aftermath pictures at the end:

Note to self: if you see a massive fireball off in the distance immediately duck and cover, do not stand and watch.

 

[zumbledum]

I believe china uses a lot of liquid gas for fuel , and that looked like a liquid gas bang to me. in one of the closer shots it looked like barrels getting launched flaming into the air

heres a small road tanker truck going bang with the stuff

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

 

[Gottesstrafe]

Another update. Apparently the fire is still raging on and the casualty list has been bumped to 55 dead, with over 700 injured. Here are some maps and graphics of the aftermath to give a better idea of the extent of the damage and how far away those shock waves hit the residential areas.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/08/13/world/asia/tianjin-china-explosions-maps.html

Apparently Ruihai International Logistics was licensed to handle compressed and liquefied natural gas, giving credence to the tank explosion theory. According to the deputy director of Tianjin's work safety watchdog, there were discrepancies between the accounts of the company and custom officials. Given that the company's offices were destroyed by the blasts, the identification of the content and quantities of hazardous chemicals being stored by the company continues at a snail's pace. Authorities are also saying that, given the fact that the company stored calcium carbide on site (which reacts with water to produce the acetylene gas utilized in welding and cutting torches) the firefighters responding to the initial fire preceding the explosions may have accidentally set off the blasts with their hoses. Over 3500 residents were made homeless by the damage caused by the explosion, spending the night in temporary shelters.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/14/world/asia/tianjin-china-explosions.html

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-33924501

 

[Siege_TF]

Something on a much, much (much) smaller scale happened about ten years ago near a UBC campus, so I can't say 'lol China'.
That, and it'd be really insensitive and stuff. I don't generally follow the news and had a busy day, so it could have been plastered everywhere and I wouldn't have noticed yet.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Note to self: if you see a massive fireball off in the distance immediately duck and cover, do not stand and watch.

Very much this. This is good advice for lots of things that cause sudden bright lights...those meteors that hit Russia a few years ago resulted in lots of glass injury which I suspect was from people going to windows and looking out to see what was going on, in time for the shockwave to hit and blow them in.

 

[Asclepion]

Couldn't find a youtube upload of this one [https://sendvid.com/i7pcfexm]

There's no way the person filming that is still alive. The livestream cut at the last frame of the shockwave shattering a wall in front of the camera. The phone didn't have time to upload anything else.