Explosions at a warehouse rocked the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin late Wednesday, killing at least 17 people and injuring more than 300 others, local authorities and state media said.
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Massive explosions kill 17, injure hundreds in China's port city Tianjin
Two explosions rocked a container terminal in northern China late Wednesday, killing at least 17 people and injuring hundreds as the blasts shot massive fireballs high above the city's skyscrapers.
The explosions in the port city of Tianjin, in an industrial area some 90 miles southeast of Beijing, left at least 283 people hospitalized with burns, cuts and other injuries, news reports said. Several buildings near the site collapsed, automobiles caught fire, and nearby residents were being evacuated from the immediate area, authorities said.
Images of the fireballs were captured by a Japanese weather satellite and shared on social media, showing the Tianjin skyline silhouetted by the eruption of flame and smoke.
Cellphone and closed-circuit TV videos also captured the powerful blasts -- which state-run CCTV said exploded with the equivalent force of 3 tons and 21 tons of TNT -- shattering windows and knocking observers to the ground.
Reporters and nonessential personnel were being kept six miles away from the site.
As of 6:45 a.m. Thursday, 17 people were dead and more than 400 injured, 32 of them critically, the People’s Daily said. At least two firefighters were reported missing and four injured.
Search and rescue operations were continuing.
The fire was brought under control before dawn but continued to burn, CCTV said.
The blasts happened around 10:50 p.m. Wednesday at the Tianjin Dongjiang Port Ruihai International Logistics Co., which handles the shipping and transport of hazardous materials, the Tianjin Public Security Bureau said.
According to the company's website, the facility covers about half a million square feet and includes several hazardous and dangerous goods warehouses. The company has about 70 full-time employees, it says, and handles a million tons of cargo a year.
Witnesses described the blasts as having the force of an earthquake, and China's Earthquake Networks Center said the first explosion had a magnitude of 2.3 and the second a magnitude of 2.9.
People had left their high-rises and were sleeping on blankets in the street, with suitcases at the ready, the Beijing Youth Daily reported.
Huge plumes of smoke and fire could still be seen over the disaster area at sunup.
A construction worker at a site about three-quarters of a mile from the blasts told the Shanghai-based publication the Paper that the explosions were so powerful, they collapsed a prefabricated dormitory housing 300 of his colleagues but only two people were hospitalized.
Photos from near the blast site showed dozens of cars incinerated.
Tianjin is a major river port that is home to about 7.5 million people.
Times staff writer Carol J. Williams in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
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Copyright © 2015, Los Angeles TimesUPDATES
4:03 p.m.: This article has been updated with the death toll rising to at least 17, more than 400 injured.
3:02 p.m.: This article has been updated with the death toll rising to 13 and other details.
2:25 p.m.: This article has been updated with information about the company where the explosion took place and other details.
1:45 p.m.: This article has been updated with at least seven deaths from the blast.
This story was originally posted at 1:18 p.m.
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