Enormous explosions in a major Chinese port city have killed at least 44 people and injured more than 500, leaving an apocalyptic landscape of incinerated cars, crumpled shipping containers and burnt-out buildings.
Two blasts, which sent fireballs soaring above skyscrapers, detonated with such force they registered on the Richter scale and were visible from space.
At least 12 firefighters have died and 32 other people are in a critical condition after the explosions ripped through the city of Tianjin, around 90 miles from Beijing, at around 11.30pm local time last night.
They had already been on the scene before the explosion, responding to a fire.
And at one city hospital a doctor wept over a dead firefighter still in uniform, his skin blackened from smoke, as he was wheeled past along with two other bodies.
The blasts, originating at the Tianjin Dongjiang Port Ruihai International Logistics Co for hazardous material, turned buildings in the immediate vicinity into charred, skeletal shells and left hundreds of cars reduced to husks.
The fireball swept through a parking lot of up to 1,000 new Renault cars, blowing out windows and ripping off paint.
Spectacular cellphone video of the explosions demonstrated the sheer power of the blasts, with many of those recording them knocked to their feet by the shockwave.
A Japanese weather satellite captured the moment of the blast which erupted into a fiery mushroom cloud, shattering windows up to several miles away.
The force of the explosions unnerved residents across much of the city of 15 million people and fires were still burning at dawn.
The port, one of the busiest in China, was operating normally, a port official said.
According to state broadcaster CCTV, the first explosion detonated with the force equivalent of three tons of TNT and registered 2.3 on the Richter scale.
The second detonation was equal to 21 tons of TNT and registered 2.9 on the Richter scale.
Zhao Zhencheng, a driver who spent the night in the cab of his truck, said: 'It was like what we were told a nuclear bomb would be like. I've never even thought I'd see such a thing. It was terrifying but also beautiful.'
President Xi Jinping demanded that authorities quickly extinguish the fires and "make full effort to rescue and treat the injured and ensure the safety of people and their property', China Central Television (CCTV) said on its official microblog.
He also promised to dish out a severe punishment if anyone was found to be at fault because of the blast.
The Xinhau state news agency said that a warehouse that stored 'dangerous and chemical goods' blew up but offered no more details.
The agency has said that 36 firefighters in total are unaccounted for after they first attended a fire at the warehouse before it exploded.
According to the firm which owns the warehouse, the entire facility covers half a million square feet and has up to 70 employees.
Tianjin resident Zhang Siyu, who lives several miles from the blast site, said: ‘I thought it was an earthquake, so I rushed downstairs without my shoes on.
‘Only once I was outside did I realise it was an explosion. There was the huge fireball in the sky with thick clouds. Everybody could see it.’
The resident added that she could see wounded people weeping - and although she did not see anyone who had been killed - she ‘could feel death’.
Clips posted on Chinese social network Weibo show a fireball shooting into the air and at least two separate explosions, while photos show people in the street apparently covered in blood.
Others images show children being carried in blankets to safety, although the veracity of the pictures could not immediately be confirmed.
The explosions took place in a mostly industrial zone, with some apartment buildings in the vicinity.
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond was in Tianjin yesterday morning to visit an Airbus assembly plant as part of a two-day trip to China - but returned to Beijing before the explosion.
It was claimed that the two explosions happened within 30 seconds of each other and about 100 fire trucks were sent to the scene, with most of the injuries caused by broken glass and stones.
Nine firefighters called to the scene were killed in the blasts, while 36 remained out of contact today.
In one neighbourhood of Tianjin, about ten miles from the blast site, some people were sleeping on the street wearing gas masks.
Local resident Han Xiang said: ‘It was like the earthquake back in 1976 with glass breaking. But then there was a huge mushroom cloud so we thought we were also in a war.’
Liu Junwei, 29, who was working at a luxury Fifth Avenue apartment complex just one mile from the site of the explosion, said the building he was working on had been badly damaged.
Like surrounding buildings, the Mediterranean style complex had all its windows blown out, and some of its surfaces were scorched.
He said: 'It's a total loss. Two years of hard work down the drain.'
'It had been all quiet, then the sky just lit up brighter than day and it looked like a fireworks show,' said another worker on the site who gave just his surname, Li.
The logistics firm running the warehouse was named by local media as Ruihai Logistics.
The company says on its website that it was established in 2011 and is an approved company for handling hazardous materials. It says it handles one million tons of cargo annually.
The National Earthquake Bureau reported two major blasts before midnight local time - the first with an equivalent of 3 tons of TNT, and the second with the equivalent of 21 tons.
Six battalions of firefighters brought the ensuing fire under control, although it is still burning. It was reported that the firefighters were combing the neighbourhood for possible injured residents.
Meanwhile, one resident of Beijing told MailOnline via email: ‘Our cellphones here are receiving warnings that between 4.50am to 5.35am local time based on wind currents that toxic fumes from the explosions will reach Beijing.
‘We are being urged to keep doors and windows closed and avoid going outside. The worst part is that these are then followed by the advice that if you must go out wear a surgical mask.
‘Unless I've completely missed my lessons in chemistry, a surgical mask will be entirely ineffective against a toxic cloud from a chemical or gas explosion.
‘It is hard to know who to trust or what to do. My heart and prayers are with the victims and their families. Based on photos I've seen, the death toll will rise much higher.’
China has a dismal industrial safety record as some owners evade regulations to save money and pay off corrupt officials to look the other way.
In July, fifteen people were killed and more than a dozen injured when an illegal fireworks warehouse exploded in the northern Hebei province.
And at least 71 were killed in an explosion at a car parts factory in Kunshan, near Shanghai, in August 2014 last year.
Tianjin, which lies about 90 miles southeast of Beijing, is one of China's biggest cities, with a population of nearly 15 million people according to 2013 figures.
A manufacturing centre and major port for northern China, it is closely linked to Beijing, with a high-speed train line cutting the travel time between them to only 30 minutes.
Like Shanghai, several countries were granted trading 'concessions' there during the 19th and early 20th centuries - settlements which were administered by the foreign power - starting with Britain and France in 1860.
The city centre retains a legacy of historic colonial architecture, along with more recent skyscrapers. It is one of only four cities in China - along with Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing - to be a province
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