A young firefighter was rescued today from the site of the powerful blasts at a warehouse storing hazardous chemicals that killed at least 55 people here in one of China's worst industrial disasters as rescuers raced against time to find survivors amid contamination fears.
The survivor, who was pulled out 32 hours after the twin explosions shattered the Ruihai warehouse, was identified as a 19-year-old firefighter named Zhou Ti who belongs to the Binhai New Area brigade of Tianjin's fire department.
More than 1,020 firefighters and 140 fire engines have been deployed to douse the fire, said Zhou Tian, head of Tianjin's fire department at a press conference today.
Thick smoke billowed from the blast site, 140 km from Beijing, as most of the fire had been doused.
"When the blast occurred, several firefighters were working to put out the fire, and backup forces had just arrived. They were caught off guard, so the casualties are grave," Zhou said.
He did not specify the number of missing firemen. However, Beijing News reported that 36 fire fighters are still missing.
"Forces from all sides are searching for the missing firefighters," he said.
The enormous blasts, which occurred late Wednesday night, have killed 55 people, including 17 firefighters. A total of 701 were injured, of whom 70 remain in critical condition.
A State Council investigation team was quoted by the state-run CCTV as saying that one survivor and the remains of five victims were found today, raising the death toll to 55.
The senior management of Ruihai International Logistics had been detained by authorities.
Meanwhile, the dangerous chemicals stored in the warehouses that exploded in China's Tianjin Port cannot be determined at the moment, Chinese officials said.
Gao Huaiyou, deputy director of Tianjin's work safety watchdog, cited major discrepancies between the accounts of company management and customs and damage to the company's office as reasons they are unable to identify the chemicals.
Cargo is stored in a warehouse for no more than 40 days before being transferred elsewhere, Gao told media.
The environmental organisation Greenpeace Beijing expressed concerns over the health risks posed by certain chemicals after the two massive explosions rocked the city home to 15 million people.
Greenpeace, citing information from Tianjin Tanggu Environmental Monitoring Station, said the company also stored calcium carbide in addition to the chemicals reported.
It warned that chemicals are highly toxic and can present health threats both with short and long-term exposure.
Greenpeace also warned that rain could transfer air-borne pollutants into water systems as rain was forecast for the city today.
