On August 12, 2015, dangerous goods exploded in a warehouse in China’s port city of Tianjin, killing 173 people and wreaking so much damage that the destruction could be seen from space. We show you the chain of events that led to the disaster
Slightly before 10.30pm, a blaze breaks out in a Ruihai Logistics warehouse containing more than 3,000 tonnes of hazardous chemicals
RUIHAI LOGISTICS
FIRE IGNITES
Authorities’ reports and investigations suggest the fire started from an overheated nitrocellulose container
Vanke Haigangchen
RUIHAI LOGISTICS
RUIHAI LOGISTICS
Firefighters
Firefighters
Firefighters
CHEMICAL REACTION
Many of the chemicals stored in the warehouse react violently with water, but the firefighters did not know this
RUIHAI LOGISTICS
Destruction zone
Authorities say the tremors generated by the blast were registered as a magnitude 2.3 earthquake, with seismic shockwaves equivalent to 15 tonnes of TNT
RUIHAI LOGISTICS
Destruction zone
The second blast generates seismic shockwaves equivalent to 230 tonnes of TNT
RUIHAI LOGISTICS
Fire spot A
Fire spot B
Fire spot C
Fire spot D
Car lots
MORE FIRES
The initial fire was caused by overheated chemicals at Point A. The blasts spread the flames to five more points where other highly flammable chemicals were stored, including 500 tonnes of magnesium and 700 tonnes of sodium cyanide. Those fires continued to burn and cause further smaller explosions
Nitrocellulose is a highly flammable compound formed by combining starch or wood fibres with nitric acid. When used as a propellant or low-order explosive, it is also known as guncotton
Nitrocellulose is commonly used in military-grade explosives and is the propellant material in M13 rockets
In all, 173 people died as a result of the fires or explosions
Hospitals in Tianjin treated 797 people for injuries resulting from the blasts