Death toll from China blasts reaches 104

The death toll from the massive explosions in the northeastern Chinese city of Tianjin has increased to 104.

According to China’s official Xinhua news agency on Saturday, 104 people, including at least 21 firefighters, have so far lost their lives following the deadly blasts that ripped through a warehouse in Tianjin’s Binhai New Area.

The country’s local officials also announced that 722 people are still hospitalized, with 58 of them being in critical condition.

Chinese soldiers managed to rescue a man in his fifties from the site of the blasts on Saturday afternoon.

The man was in a stable condition and could talk at the time of the rescue operation, said Li Jingmei, a doctor from Tianjn’s No. 254 hospital, adding, though, that he is suffering from respiratory tract burn

Xi urges "safety”

Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping said “safe growth” and “people’s interest” must top the priorities of the country’s officials in the progress of the country, stressing that they must learn from the “extremely profound” lessons of the deadly incident.

Xi also vowed to achieve “substantial improvement” in work safety, adding that a better emergency response mechanism is required to avoid such an alarming number of fatalities in potential similar incidents.

Despite Xi’s pledge for the implementation of more safety measures, the Chinese army was forced to evacuate residents within a three-kilometer radius following seven or eight new explosions at the site of the incident.

Sodium cyanide the cause of the blasts?

Gao Huaiyou, the vice director of the Tianjin bureau of work safety, said sodium cyanide was “possibly stored” at the blast site, but stressed that the exact cause of the fatal incident is yet to be determined.

The monumental blasts shook the port city on Wednesday night, unleashing a fireball that went up through the sky. According to unconfirmed reports citing a blog run by China’s Ministry of Public Security Fire, the company handled hazardous materials.

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