China blasts: Not yet known which chemicals were stored

Beijing, Aug 14: The dangerous chemicals stored at a warehouse in China's Tianjin city that was rocked by a string of explosions, leaving 50 dead and over 700 injured, have not yet been identified, authorities said on Friday.

Gao Huaiyou, deputy director of Tianjin's work safety watchdog, cited major discrepancies between the accounts of company management and customs, and damage to the company's office as reasons they why were unable to identify the chemicals, reported Xinhua news agency.

Cargo is stored in a warehouse for no more than 40 days before being transferred elsewhere, Gao said, adding that the blast sites were redesigned to contain dangerous chemicals.

Wednesday night's enormous blasts killed 50 people, including 17 fire-fighters. A total of 701 were injured, of whom 70 remain in critical condition.

IANS