Tianjin blasts death toll rises to 150

The death toll from the Tianjin warehouse explosions more than two weeks ago rose to 150 on Sunday with 23 others still missing, according to rescue authorities.

The dead include 92 firefighters, 10 policemen and 48 others. The missing people include 12 firefighters, one policemen and 10 others.

A total of 367 people remain in hospital, including 20 in critical or serious condition.

Two blasts ripped through a warehouse in Tianjin Port where large amounts of toxic chemicals were stored, including around 700 tonnes of sodium cyanide, at around 11:30 p.m. on Aug. 12.

More than 300 primary and middle schools in the Binhai New Area, where the port is located, will open the new semester on Monday as scheduled, and 16 kindergartens and schools damaged in the explosions have been fully repaired, the area's publicity office said.

On Saturday, no excessive levels of pollutants were found in the air outside the exclusion zone, but high levels of cyanide were detected from water samples from inside the exclusion zone, with the worst about 23 times the level officially regarded as safe.

Source: XINHUA