Powerful explosions rocked a major port city in northeastern China on Wednesday Aug 12,2015 killing 50 people and injuring over 700 people
The initial explosion apparently triggered at least one further blast.
China's National Earthquake Bureau registered the force of the first
blast as being equivalent to three tonnes of TNT going off, and the
second with the equivalent of 21 tonnes
Fears mounted over the possible consequences of the explosions and whether it was safe for Tianjin's 15 million residents to remain in the the city
The explosions in Tianjin started at a container-port warehouse that stored hazardous materials in the city's Binhai New Area section
The explosions were large enough to be seen from space, the blasts lit up the night sky and shook buildings miles away.
Wednesday's explosions were so large that they were visible from space, according to Dan Lindsey, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research meteorologist at Colorado State University's Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere.
The first in a series of explosions occurred around 11:30 p.m., sending enormous fireballs and a mushroom cloud rising over the city. Debris and glass rained down on Tianjin, and the explosions were so powerful that they registered as small earthquakes
The first explosion triggered several others. Twelve firefighters who had been sent to fight the initial blaze were among the dead. Six thousand people were forced to leave their homes
Burnt cars are seen near the site of the explosions at the Binhai new district, Tianjin, August 13, 2015
Charred remains of a warehouse and new cars are left burned after an explosion
The warehouse explosion site in Tianjin. A total of 112 bodies have been found, and 95 people remained missing, including 85 firefighters
People stay at a primary school set as the emergency evacuation after the Wednesday explosions of a warehouse in Binhai New Area on August 13, 2015 in Tianjin, China
Across the street from the school, residents, families and volunteers gathered for a vigil. They placed candles in a heart around the word "Teda," the name of the development zone in which the blasts occurred.
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