China closed hundred chemical enterprises after the explosion in the port of Tianjin

After the gigantic explosions last week in a chemical warehouse in Tianjin Port, which left nearly 200 people dead or missing, 700 injured and
serious toxic spill, the Chinese government has closed more than a hundred companies in this sector for violating safety rules.


In a nationwide survey released after the tragedy, which was due to a string of irregularities, authorities have discovered the lawlessness that reigns in this dangerous industry. Only in Beijing, 85 of its 124 stores chemicals present security risks. Some of them are so serious that they have forced to suspend the operations of two stores in Beijing, 39 in the coastal province of Zhejiang, 26 in the city of Anqing (Anhui) and 19 in Hubei.

"Companies that fail in our records will have to cease operations immediately and their deposits will be under surveillance 24 hours," said Friday the deputy head of the Labour Inspectorate Beijing, Qian Shan, according to the state news agency Xinhua.

Among the firms where infringements were detected highlights a branch of Sinopec, Asia's largest oil company. Although it is state, some employees did not know how to respond in case of fire and others were caught smoking in their barracks near the tanks. Despite these failures, it is not known if the branch of Sinopec has been closed. Instead, it has been suspended work on chemical and explosives company in Beijing until September 6, due to the World Championships, which opens this Saturday, and the parade for the 70th anniversary of the victory over Japan in the Second World War.

While the Chinese government promises on the one hand strengthen the security of such facilities to calm public opinion, outraged by the corruption that has surfaced in Tianjin, on the other minimizes the impact of toxic spill that caused the explosions in the port. Despite the emergence of millions of deaths in the Haihe River near Tianjin, fish the official media, controlled by the propaganda, say water levels are normal and who died of natural causes due to a reduction of the oxygen repeats every summer heat. But the public distrusts the official explanation for the accident in the port of Tianjin, which left a spill of 700 tons of sodium cyanide, it has increased 277 times the acceptable levels of pollution in its waters. To make matters worse, yesterday four new fires were reported in the scorched and covered with chemicals area, which further worsens this catastrophe.