Shattering windows, thrown to the ground people: huge explosions, the Chinese port city of Tianjin shattered and killed more than 40 people. The government strives to block independent reports.

It feels like the end of the world! “-” I’m scared, stays away from the disaster zone “-” Was that a nuclear explosion or an earthquake? “- Troubled residents described in social media a night of horror. An initial assessment on Thursday showed that the explosion of dangerous chemicals in the industrial zone Binhai in the Chinese port city of Tianjin 44 people were killed and hundreds were injured, many of them still hover in mortal danger. It is feared that the death toll is still rising.

Bloodied people were taken to the nearby hospitals that already are now overcrowded. The environment of the camp offers on Thursday a picture of the wide-scale devastation in some places still smoldering fire, burnt-out cars and containers are to be seen on amateur videos that have been disseminated on the Internet. Within a radius of several kilometers windows and doors were broken, people were thrown out of their beds.

The explosions began in the night of Thursday like fireworks, but then appeared a huge fireball and colored the night sky orange. A mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke appeared in the sky. The blast set cars on fire, throwing people around. Eyewitnesses described that objects made of metal fell from the sky. Firefighters were recorded of large explosion, at least twelve of them died in action.

The task forces had been called in the evening to a fire in the camp of Ruihai Logistic, but when they arrived, they came in the middle of the great explosion. The fire and explosions attacked according to a report of Xinhua News Agency of the camp of Ruihai Logistics also to neighboring warehouses and factories on. The fire brigade had to be suspended in the short term on Thursday morning, there was not clear what and how much explosive goods were still in the camps. In addition to firefighters, the paramilitary armed police were sent in use. 100 fire trucks were ready.

According to the Chinese Earthquake Administration, the two consecutive explosions had the stronger of smaller earthquakes. Internet users reported by the fear of poisoning the air by the explosions. The weather bureau appeased but that the wind was blowing to the east and the smoke drifted out to sea. But it was not immediately clear whether developed toxic gases. The police locked the area from a wide area.

Party chief Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang arranged at greatest efforts in the rescue work and the Prime Minister promised transparency in the investigation. Before that, some netizens had complained about the lack of coverage in Tianjin. So reported that Tianjin TV until late hours and then showed pictures of Korean television by the disaster. Some foreign journalists were prevented from reporting on site.

The Chinese government is committed in major disasters and accidents, to prevent independent reporting and to report only the state media. This concentrate then mostly in a positive representation of the rescue operation and do not ask questions about the responsibility.

The industrial zone Binhai Tianjin City is one of the government-sponsored industrial zones of China. The industrial city of Tianjin with 15 million inhabitants located 120 kilometers east of Beijing, and is connected to the capital by motorways and high-speed train path.