Massive explosions have rocked the city of Tianjin in northern China, the Chinese Xinhua news agency reported Wednesday.
The initial blasts were caused by flammable material stored at a container terminal and were felt kilometres away. The explosions occurred sometime after 11 p.m. local time, Xinhua said.
Subsequent fires later caused a series of smaller explosions in the vicinity of the port.
The main blaze was contained around three hours after the first explosion, Xinhua said.
A hospital in Tianjin told Xinhua that hundreds of people were injured. A doctor told Radio Television Hong Kong that area hospitals were flooded with patients and that many had severe burns.
Users on Weibo, a microblogging platform in China similar to Twitter, posted that windows and doors of buildings near the blast had been blown out.
Tianjin is a port city about 113 kilometres southeast of Beijing.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/china-explosion-tianjin-1.3188626