CHINA-BLAST/VIGIL Tianjin residents hold vigil to mourn blast victims

Record ID: 143620

  • Title: CHINA-BLAST/VIGIL Tianjin residents hold vigil to mourn blast victims
  • Date: 17th August 2015
  • Summary: CANDLES SPELLING PING'AN (CHINESE FOR PEACE)
  • Embargoed: 1st September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2MFUA04B1XWUFJ08POT64Q7DS
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Tianjin residents gathered to hold a candlelight vigil outside a hospital on Monday (August 17) commemorating those killed in an explosion at a chemical storage warehouse.
    The official death toll on Monday stood at 114. More than 700 people were injured in the blast and 70 are still missing, most of them fire fighters, the official Xinhua news agency said.
    Volunteers lit candles spelling out 8.12, the date of the blast, as well as the Chinese characters for peace before holding three minutes of silence and a flower laying ceremony.
    One local resident said she was grateful for all those who had helped since the blast.
    "I've been really moved by the things I've seen and heard and personally experienced over the past few days, really very moved. So many volunteers, so many firefighters here to protect our homes. I think the firefighters are really so great, I don't really know what's the right thing to say other than to thank them," said local resident, Yue Zhengping.
    Earlier in the day teams specialised in handling hazardous chemicals scrambled to clean up the blast site.
    Tianjin's deputy mayor, He Shushan, confirmed there was about 700 tons of the deadly chemical sodium cyanide stored at the warehouse that blew up.
    Resident Liu Yadong says he had lived in the area for nearly 20 years and hadn't been aware dangerous goods had been stored at the site.
    "I feel a little disappointed, because before I never would have imagined that there'd be a dangerous goods storage facility just two kilometres away from my factory and three or four kilometres from my home. I'm quite disappointed," he said.
    China's top prosecutor, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, has opened an investigation into the warehouse explosions.
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