The warehouse at the centre of last week’s explosions in the Chinese city of Tianjin received a licence to handle hazardous chemicals just two months before the disaster, China’s state-run news agency has reported.

Xinhua said on Tuesday that Tianjin Dongjiang Port Rui Hai International Logistics, the company that owns the warehouse, did not have legal permission to handle such dangerous materials between October 2014 and June 2015. But the company had continued to work with hazardous chemicals, Xinhua reported, citing an unidentified company official.

Local media reported that the president and vice-chairman of the company were among the 10 Rui Hai workers who were detained by authorities as early as last Thursday, the day after the blasts.

According to state media reports, Rui Hai company president Yu Xuewei and vice-chairman Dong Shexuan were put “under control” on the afternoon after the blasts. Local news outlet Caijing reports that four of the Rui Hai workers are in hospital and six others are at Tianjin No 1 Detention Centre.

On Tuesday afternoon a former deputy mayor of Tianjin and current director of the State Administration of Work Safety – the country’s work safety watchdog – was also put under investigation.

Yang Dongliang, who was vice-mayor of Tianjin between 2009 and 2012, is suspected of “serious violations of discipline and law”, according to a statement published on the government’s anti-graft website.



The news came as rain hit the site of last week’s devastating blasts for the first time on Tuesday morning, raising fears that it might set off more chemical reactions, potentially creating toxic gas, endangering local residents and hampering rescue efforts.

Residents have been on high alert since news of the toxic chemicals circulated, with local media reports showing many wearing gas masks and accompanied by armed police when returning to their homes to pick up belongings.

Authorities are concerned that the rain will react with up to 700 tonnes of sodium cyanide discovered at two locations at the hazardous goods storage facility. Officials announced the discovery of more dangerous chemicals on Tuesday.

Niu Yuegang, deputy director at Tianjin’s fire department, confirmed that over 40 different types of chemicals have now been discovered at the blast site, including 700 tonnes of sodium cyanide, 800 tonnes of ammonium nitrate and 500 tonnes of potassium nitrate, according to local reports.

Drone footage taken by rescue workers and broadcast on state TV channel CCTV indicated that the enormous crater at the centre of the blast had filled with water as early as Friday afternoon, two days after the blast.

Drone footage of Tianjin blast crater. Link to video

Earlier on Monday, in his first public appearance since the explosions, Tianjin’s vice-mayor He Shushan admitted that sodium cyanide had been found as far as 1km from the blast site.

As the country observes a traditional day of mourning, on the seventh day since the twin explosions occurred at the port city, details of the death of a 25-year-old firefighter added to the grief and frustration felt by local families.

Zhang Sumei was among the support staff at the No 4 fire brigade of Tianjin Public Security Bureau. Zhang remained at home while her husband of three years left to fight the blaze on the Wednesday night, but died when the force of the explosion razed their apartment to the ground, according to local reports.

Her team, along with the No 5 team, were among the first fire crews to arrive at the scene of the disaster on Wednesday night.

Tianjin explosion site: footage shows scale of devastation. Link to video.

Families of missing contract firefighters have taken to the streets in recent days to stage protests, interrupting an official news conference on Saturday and even clashing with police in one instance.

Officials announced at a press conference on Tuesday morning that 83 of the 114 dead have now been identified, with more than 700 injured and 57 people still missing, most of them firefighters.

In a rare impromptu interview on Monday, Chinese premier Li Keqiang told Hong Kong’s i-Cable news that all firefighters who died – contract and professional – should be equally recognised.

“For our heroes, no one is outside the system,” Li said. “Regardless of whether they’re firefighting officers or non-military firefighting workers, we will treat them the same.”

Questions about how the blasts occurred are still being asked, with the state council – the country’s highest state administrative body – setting up an investigation team to look into the cause of the explosions.

Additional reporting by Amber Ziye Wang