Top executives detained as China investigates Tianjin warehouse blasts

Ten senior executives of the company that owned the warehouse site that exploded in the Chinese city of Tianjin have been detained, state media reported Tuesday, as authorities promised to investigate the cause of the disaster.

Li Liang, the president of Tianjin Dongjiang Port Rui Hai International Logistics Co, which stores and transports chemicals, was among those being held, as was the company’s vice president, Cao Haijun, and Song Qi, the chief financial officer.

They have been under detention since August 13. Earlier reports had said two unnamed executives of the firm were in detention.

Massive explosions rocked the northeastern coastal city late Wednesday, killing at least 114 people, officials said, and devastating a large industrial zone and nearby residences.

At least 65 people are still missing, according to the latest figures from authorities.

Thousands of officials, firefighters, policemen and local residents mourned the victims at the blast site Tuesday, bowing their heads and observing a moment of silence to pay their respects.

China also said it was investigating the director of the country’s work safety agency, Yang Dongliang, who was also Tianjin’s vice mayor until 2012.

Yang was being investigated for “severe violation of discipline and law”, the Chinese Communist Party corruption watchdog said, but didn’t directly link the probe to the disaster.

MORE: Were ‘hero’ firefighters ill prepared for enormity of blasts?

Smoke rises from debris on Saturday, August 15, near a crater that was at the center of a series of explosions in northeastern China's Tianjin municipality as seen from an aerial view.

The Donghai Road light rail terminal station in Tianjin, China, is seen covered in debris on Monday, August 17. Explosions at a chemical warehouse left more than a hundred people dead and hundreds injured. Fire officials say hazardous chemicals stored at the warehouse were ignited by fire, but the fire's cause is still being investigated.

A train with a smashed-up windscreen sits abandoned in the eerily deserted station on August 17.

Smoke rises as damaged cars explode on Saturday, August 15.

Firefighters work August 15 at the site of the explosions.

Soldiers from the National Nuclear Biochemical Emergency Rescue Team launch a rescue mission August 15 at the core area of the explosion site.

Smoke rises from debris on August 15 near a crater at the center of where the explosions took place.

Scattered debris is seen August 15 at the site of the explosions.

Volkswagens lie burned near ruined buildings on Friday, August 14.

An aerial image taken shows toxic smoke rising from debris in Tianjin, a sprawling port city of more than 13 million people about 70 miles from Beijing.

Firefighters wear protective gear while working as partially pink smoke billows nearby. The environmental group Greenpeace expressed concern "that certain chemicals will continue to pose a risk to the residents of Tianjin," and city residents shared similar fears on social media.

Rescuers are seen near the site of the blasts. A Chinese military team of nuclear and chemical were conducting investigations as pressure grew on authorities to explain the cause of the fire and the resulting cataclysmic explosions.

Smoke from the explosion billows over destroyed cars. As of 2014, Tianjin was the world's 10th-busiest container port, according to the World Shipping Council.

Residents take their belongings as they evacuate from parts of the city. Managers of the warehouse facility have provided "insufficient information" about what was stored there, a city safety official said, though it is known that sodium cyanide, a highly toxic chemical that can rapidly kill humans exposed to it, was one of the stored materials.

Three men walk out onto the streets after being treated at a hospital on Thursday, August 13.

A Chinese police officer carries a man as civilians flee the area near the disaster.

Fire and smoke is seen from a broken window of an apartment.

People walk among the crumpled remains of shipping containers. One of the explosions was estimated to be equivalent to 21 tons of TNT, or a magnitude-2.9 earthquake, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang called for "all-out efforts" to save the injured and minimize casualties, the state-run Xinhua news outlet reported.

Over 1,000 firefighters were called in to put out secondary fires caused by the explosions.

People sleep in a classroom at a primary school used as a makeshift emergency evacuation center.

A bandaged man eats in a hospital in Tianjin.

A firefighter grimaces as he is examined for injuries. Seventeen firefighters were among the people killed, officials said.

An injured survivor is brought to a hospital following the explosion.

Fires continued to burn near the site of the explosions in the early hours of Thursday, August 13.

A photographer captures the plume of the second, and most massive, of the series of explosions.

The initial explosion erupts Wednesday night, August 12 at a warehouse owned by Rui Hai International Logistics Co. Executives of the company were taken into custody, state media reported on August 13.

Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

Prev Next

Questions over license

Official news agency Xinhua said the company was licensed to handle dangerous chemicals at the time of the blasts but only obtained that license in June. A previous license had lapsed in October 2014.

The warehouse was a temporary storage facility that housed materials after they arrived at the port and before they were transported elsewhere, city officials have said.

Several hundred tons of sodium cyanide, a highly toxic chemical that can kills humans rapidly, have been found at two locations and are being cleaned up, they added.

Residents in Tianjin with homes near the blast site have shared their concerns about the long-term environmental and health consequences of the blasts.

A resident injured by the explosions that hit a nearby chemical warehouse last week holds a photo of herself injured as she joins a protest outside the hotel where authorities are holding a press conferences in Tianjin on August 17, 2015. Rescuers at a Chinese industrial site where huge explosions killed at least 114 people combed through thousands of crushed shipping containers on August 17 in an effort to contain vast amounts of highly toxic cyanide, officials said, as state-run media lambasted authorities for their response to the tragedy. CHINA OUT AFP PHOTOSTR/AFP/Getty Images

video

Related video Tianjin blast: Chinese citizens demand accountability

A CNN team in the city says barrels of unknown chemicals propelled by the explosions remain close to residential areas and they witnessed chemicals reacting with rain water, emitting white steam.

Bao Jingling, chief engineer of Tianjin Environmental Protection Bureau, said Wednesday that air quality outside the blast zone was normal and the cyanide concentration in tested water and soil was in normal range.

However, cyanide was detected over limit at eight water monitoring spots inside the warning zone, with levels at one spot exceeding limits by 277 times. Bao said that this was at the outlet of a blocked pipe and wouldn’t pollute surrounding areas.

China’s State Council has formed an investigative committee to “give a responsible answer” on the cause of the disaster and promised “serious punishment,” Xinhua reported Tuesday.

“Many are questioning about the number of people killed in the blasts, the emergency assistance provided, and the handling of the aftermath. Some are even suspicious, with rumors circling,” said a commentary in the People’s Daily, the Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece.

“In the face of an accident that has caused heavy losses of life and property, the central government’s attitude is clear and resolute: a thorough investigation and severe punishment are beyond any doubt,” it concluded.

Tianjin blasts: Another profound lesson?

The explosions are also taking their toll on business in the port city.

Japanese car maker Toyota said that it had been forced to halt production at three production lines in the city, with one factory located just 3 km from blast site.

CNN’s Yoko Wakatsuki in Tokyo and Brian Walker in Atlanta contributed to this report