Tianjin officials suspected of negligence over port explosion
China has accused 11 government and port officials of negligence over the massive explosions that killed 139 people in Tianjin earlier this month. The 11 officials include the head of Tianjin's transportation commission and the boss of Tianjin's port operator.
Fireball from the first Tianjin explosion
Prosecutors said the government officials were variously suspected of approving Ruihai's bid to build a hazardous chemical warehouse in the port despite knowing the location broke safety regulations, and of helping the company to pass safety checks even though it did not meet the required standards. Port officials were also negligent in their supervision of Ruihai's operations, failing to detect "illegal activity" and safety issues around its handling of hazardous materials.
Heavy smoke, as a result of the explosions
In addition, the Chinese government has now formally detained 12 company executives from Ruihai International Logistics, which owned the warehouse that blew up. Among them are Ruihai's chairman, vice-chairman and managers from the safety, finance, and operations departments. They were suspected of "being heavily responsible for the incident and of illegally storing hazardous chemicals".
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A building damaged by the Tianjin explosions
The logistics company is thought to have used personal connections to illegally obtain licenses that allowed them to store hazardous chemicals close to a residential area.
The 12 August chemical explosions sent a huge fireball in to the sky and destroyed hundreds of homes. At least 34 people are still missing since the blast, more than 500 are still in hospital and thousands have been unable to return home.
Damaged car and building from the Tianjin blasts
The explosions sparked concerns about the storage of dangerous chemicals and planning regulations. To make matters worse, at least three residential complexes were found to have been built within a 1km-radius of the warehouse, which flouted Chinese law.
Click here and here for previous reports about the Tianjin blasts.
(All images - credit: Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licence)
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