Reuters
Tianjin (China), August 17: Hundreds of residents displaced by huge explosions last week in the Chinese port of Tianjin demanded compensation on Monday, as authorities worked to complete a sweep of the blast site for dangerous chemicals. The death toll from the two blasts last on Wednesday rose to 114, officials said. More than 700 people were injured and 70 are missing, most of them fire fighters, the official Xinhua news agency said.
The explosions sent fireballs high into the sky and hurled flaming debris across the world’s 10th-largest port, burning out buildings and shattering windows kilometres away. Xinhua said there had been another small explosion on Monday.
As teams specialized in handling hazardous chemicals scrambled to clean up the site, Tianjin’s deputy mayor, He Shushan, confirmed there was about 700 tons of deadly chemical sodium cyanide in the warehouse that blew up.
“Most was concentrated in the core” blast area, he said. Workers would finish a search of a 3-km (2-mile) perimeter to identify and clean up chemicals by the end of the day, he said. About 200 protesters gathered outside a hotel where officials were briefing journalists. “This is not a demonstration. This is simply our only channel to attract the government’s attention,” said Li Jiao, whose home was close to the blast site.
