Four new fires broke out in the northeastern port city of Tianjin in china where two huge blasts last week killed 116 people, state media reported Friday soon after officials said safety hazards were found at almost 70% of firms handling dangerous chemicals in Beijing.
The explosions in a warehouse storing dangerous chemicals devastated an industrial park in Tianjin late on August 12. More than 700 people were injured and thousands were evacuated because of the risk posed by chemicals stored at the site, Reuters reported.
The official Xinhua news agency said Friday rescue crews were rushing to the site after four new fires broke out. It said one of the “combustion points” was in a logistics site for automobiles near last week’s blasts.
It also said the death toll rose to 116 on Friday from a previously reported 114, while 60 people were still missing.
Thousands of Dead Fish
Thousands of dead fish have recently washed up on the shores of Tianjin, according to officials and Chinese state media reports, and some fear the phenomenon may have been caused by toxic chemicals from the blasts.
Pictures published on Thursday showed workers scooping thousands of dead fish out of the Haihe River near Tianjin, a day after authorities had declared the city’s drinking water was safe.
Tianjin officials said the dead fish were caused by regular seasonal low oxygen levels in the water and were not related to the blasts.
Authorities, however, have warned that cyanide levels in waters around Tianjin port, the world’s 10th-busiest and the gateway to China’s industrial north, had risen to as much as 277 times acceptable levels.
