Tianjin explosion video captures fear of eyewitnesses – BBC News

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Footage of two massive explosions in the Chinese city of Tianjin, taken by a stunned eyewitness, captured the fear and terror of those who saw what happened. Dozens of people died and hundreds were injured when a warehouse owned by a company specialising in handling hazardous goods caught fire and exploded. City officials say they still did not know what materials were at the warehouse at the time of the fire, or what caused the blasts. Eyewitness Dan van Duren filmed the moment of the explosions, before he and others fled to avoid the danger.

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26 Comments

  1. The first explosion in the video led directly to the deaths of 25 firefighters from the fifth detachment of the Tianjin Fire Brigade, and even more poignantly, they were an average of 20 years old, and one of them had just celebrated his 18th birthday.

  2. China had been known for fireworks on Lunar New Year holidays. If these big explosions were from a fireworks factory that caught fire, I can imagine from seeing the 3 big explosions. If this facility was a fireworks factory.

    1. The first moderate explosion probably would be from the black powder canisters that blew up all at once. The resultant fires then would make a beeline to the bulk flash powder canisters. They get hot and then…..
    2. The second much bigger explosion would simulate the flash powder (a more powerful type of fireworks powder) bulk cans blowing up all at the same time.
    3. The third explosion was similarly gigantic – likely this would be as if a second bulk storage facility of flash powder canisters blew up.

    These explosions I saw were similar to the same explosive setup on May 1, 2000, at the Enschede fireworks factory facility that blew up. 23 people died in that disaster.

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