A person was found alive Friday by rescuers, 31 hours following the massive twin explosions in a port in Tianjin, China. The survivor was identified as 19-year-old firefighter Zhou Ti, according to a city official and state broadcaster CCTV.
The report added that Zhou was given treatment for burns, smoke inhalation as well as injuries to the leg.
"Forces from all sides are searching for the (remaining) missing firefighters," said Tianjin Fire Department head Zhou Tian at a Friday news conference, according to The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, authorities are continuing to deal with the fire still burning in the midst of potentially dangerous chemicals.
Late Wednesday, the twin explosions that took place in the Tianjin port claimed the lives of at least 50 people. It also injured hundreds, with 701 people still hospitalized, according to state news agency Xinhua. The agency also reported that more than a dozen firefighters remain missing by Friday.
The twin blasts in Tianjin, China prompted many residents to shut their windows and doors as officials revealed that dangerous toxins were present in the air, according to NBC News.
The air pollutants include methylbenzene, methane, epoxy ethane. According to Nankai University professor Feng Yin Chang, these chemicals were already at "normal levels" by Thursday afternoon. However, the professor added that it remains "not very clear" which chemicals contributed to the initial explosion.
The twin blasts in Tianjin, China on Wednesday reportedly began when shipping containers struck a typically nonresidential warehouse district. The dozen firefighters who responded following the first blast were among the dead. According to The New York Times, there could have been more deaths if the twin explosions occurred in a highly-populated area.
Following the Tianjin, China twin blasts, a 200-strong nuclear, biological and chemical team from the Chinese army was reportedly sent to test the site's toxins. Foreign experts have also expressed their concerns about how the firefighters' use of water may have reacted to one of the chemicals stored at the factory, thus contributing to the aggressiveness of the twin explosions.
Chemical safety expert David Leggett from California told Reuters that "because calcium carbide reacts with water to create acetylene, a highly explosive gas, this could have caused ammonium nitrate, another chemical believed to be present, to detonate."
Reuters reported further that a Chinese official came to the defense of the firefighters of the initial blast. Lei Jinde, China fire department's head of deputy propaganda, told the state-backed news website ThePaper.cn that the firefighters, many of which died during the blast, "knew there was calcium carbide inside but we didn't know whether it had already exploded."
"At that point no one knew, it wasn't that the firefighters were stupid," he added.
Meanwhile, President Xi Jinping has addressed the massive Tianjin, China explosions and said those responsible for it should be "severely handled."
In China, industrial accidents are reportedly uncommon due to 30 years of economic growth. A year ago, a room filled with metal dust exploded at an auto parts factory in eastern China, killing 75 people.
Below is a dramatic footage of the shocking explosion which rocked entire Tianjin on Wednesday. According to ABC News, the video, which was posted on YouTube by Daniel Van Duren, was taken less than 1km away from the port at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday. Van Duren was located at the top of his 33-story apartment building when the twin blasts started.
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