Tianjin: Heavy rain fell yesterday on the remains of a Chinese industrial site devastated by giant explosions, complicating clean-up efforts and heightening fears about toxic contamination as ceremonies were held to mark the disaster’s 114 deaths. Around 700 tonnes of highly toxic sodium cyanide were at the site in the northern port of Tianjin, officials say, and water could spread it more widely.
Rainwater could also disperse chemical residues on the ground into the air when it evaporates. The site operator and a senior work safety official were put under investigation.
“I’m worried because we don’t know what’s in the rain,” said a taxi driver. Out of 40 water testing points, eight showed excess levels of cyanide last Monday, all within a cordoned-off area surrounding the site of the blasts. The highest reading was 28.4 times official standards, said Bao Jingling, chief engineer at the Tianjin environmental protection bureau.
The chemical had been detected at another 21 points and cyanide traces were detected at four other seawater testing points, he added.
Authorities have built a dam of sand and earth around the blasts’ central 100,000-square-metre “core area”. Sodium cyanide is a toxic white crystal or powder. It releases hydrogen cyanide gas, used in gas chamber executions in the US.
“We are paying high attention to the rain forecast for the coming couple of days,” Bao said. “We are making plans for the treatment of tens of thousands of tonnes of polluted water in the core area.”
AFP
