A terrifying chemical explosion in the city of Tianjin, China has caused catastrophic devastation to the nearby region as over 100 people, including 12 firefighters, are estimated to have lost their lives while several others have sustained serious injuries.
Lack of safety procedures and oversight are said to be the reason behind the blast that is said to be equivalent to the explosion of 21 tons of TNT. Military inspections revealied that the warehouse stored several hundred tons of highly toxic sodium cyanide which is used in the mining industry to extract precious metals. Worsening the aftermath, the blast is said to have released toxic fumes into the air which is likely to proliferate the cataclysmic event even further.
Besides the precious, irreplaceable lives, there has been a lot of damage to the property around the region and German car maker Volkswagen is at the receiving end of the brunt. The car maker has reportedly lost over two thousand brand new cars that were ready to be shipped from Tianjin.
The list of damaged vehicles include:
- 1065 Touaregs
- 114 Golfs
- 391 Beetles
- 257 Tiguans
- 39 SportsVans
- 28 Magotans (locally built Passats)
- 770 “Specials”
Here is a video footage of the incident captured. The footage gives a glimpse of the gargantuan volume of the blast:
Here is another video of the blasts captured by Twiteratti @FreeWill89 from a distant building:
A powerful blast has rocked the Tianjin binhai new area,in #China pic.twitter.com/8aehQOypqV via @freewill89 c @JALpalyul
— Michelle (@Michelle9647) August 12, 2015
Our prayers are with the families of the deceased and the injured and we really hope that the Chinese authorities up the safety norms for such facilities.
Source: BMW M Blog and CNN