Chinese authorities on Saturday put the final death toll at 173 in the country's worst industrial
disaster at Tianjin port, as officials ended the search for the remaining eight missing exactly a
month after the incident following a complete clean-up of the place.
Tianjin city government announced in a micro-blog that there was no hope of finding the eight
persons, and the court will now start issuing death certificates. The massive twin blasts that
rocked chemical warehouse at the port city was also disastrous for the country's fire fighting
unit as 104 firemen were killed besides 11 police officers and 55 civilians. The eight persons
who remained unaccounted for included five firefighters. Over 700 people were injured and
many of them are still undergoing treatment in hospitals.The blasts ripped through the
warehouse on August 12 night in Tianjin Port, where large amounts of toxic chemicals were
stored, including around 700 tonnes of sodium cyanide. It all started with fire in the container
terminal prompting a large force of firefighters rushing to the scene only to be blown off by
the blasts which destroyed several residential building in the neighbourhood besides about
10,000 imported cars of various companies lined up for delivery. It is still not known what
had caused the fire and the ferocity of the explosions which shook the city.
Meanwhile, amid fears of chemical contamination of air and water, officials managed to clear
thousands of burnt cars and containers by deploying a large force of nuclear and biological
warfare experts. Official media has carried photos of empty site except puddles of water stating
that the place has been cleaned up. Amid speculation about corruption, 12 people including the
chairman, vice-chairman and three deputy general managers of Tianjin Ruihai International
Logistics Co Ltd, owner of the warehouse where the explosions took place, were arrested.
Also an ugly row has broken out over payment of compensation for 104 firemen killed in the
blasts as relatives of the firefighters on contracts complained of discrimination. Family
members of some of the dead firefighters, employed as contract staff by the company managing
the port, said the government had failed to honour and compensate equally with firemen on
regular government employment.
Residents affected by the explosions said they are not satisfied with a local government offer
to either repair their homes or ask private companies to purchase their houses and demanded
higher compensation to buy new residential flats.
