Tianjin. The crater after the violent explosion in the port of Tianjin last week measured 60 meters in diameter and was seven meters deep. The information was released about a week after the catastrophe, where firefighters are 102 of the 179 dead and missing.
The Chinese authorities are now trying to silence their families.
It was 17-year-old Cui Fukangs and 18-year-old Tang Xianwangs first job. One of them was included in the group of four and the other in groups of five in port fire department in Tianjin. They had been contracted employees since February. The salary was not high, but it was a steady job, and they were satisfied with the job.
When the fire started on the evening of 12 August it was among the first place.
There was no reasonable chance that they could know that the water they and their colleagues are directed to the fire shortly later, according to experts, most likely it was that triggered two violent explosions when water came in contact with chemicals that react.
Eight days later, the rooms on floors three, four and five on the Xinsheng Orchid Hotel, a few kilometers from the disaster site filled with families of the firefighters. They are guarded by police and guards. Whoever sets foot outside the hotel will result in heels.
During the first week allowed the police protests by upwards of a few hundred people outside the hotel Meihua. Relatives tried to get in on a press conference to criticize the lack of information and to ask why some of the firemen, the lowest ranked of China, were not on the lists of missing.
On Thursday were all warned . The streets were free of demonstrations. Chinese authorities have, as the Sichuan earthquake in 2008, a few days after the disaster passed to censorship in an attempt to control information. Investigative reports deleted from Chinese web pages. Microblogs blocked. A television broadcast of a press conference was broken when an official from the Tianjin refused to answer questions about why the dangerous chemicals stored just 600 meters from a residential area, a clear violation of the law.
Outside the hotel in Tianjin explains Cui Fukangs mother how son went away from home in Hebei province after the Chinese New Year in winter. It was his first job.
– He just came home one time on all the time. He said they trained hard every day, but he liked it. Now he’s gone, says the mother.
So much more time she did not say before a plainclothes police officer stands between us.
– Come with me to the hotel or go away, the policeman says facing Cui Fukangs mother. Do not talk to the media.
The firemen have come into focus following the accident that claimed the highest number of fire men’s lives in modern China. Voices have been raised to professionalize the profession, performed at three different levels. The top two consist of firefighters standing directly under the central security ministry and local authorities.
They have totally different conditions from third-class firefighters as 17-year-old Cui and 18-year-old Tang. They are contract employees of large companies and ports, as beginners with no experience, with a salary of just under 4 000 per month.
Still, it is usually those who are called out only during fires because they are closest to the accident site.
Eight days after the explosions in the Tianjin Economic Development Zone is ongoing redevelopment in full swing. Burnt out cars lifted off. Employees at companies collect belongings in the apartments which are no longer habitable. Many businesses have closed and sent away staff on vacation until further notice. Taxi drivers have run free with the victims to the hospital and many have thought to leave the blood needed to injuries. Some have turned when they saw the long queues. Others do not know what to believe: it is completely safe to stay in the area? Cyanide concentrations more than 350 times the limit value has been measured in the water near the site of the explosion. The smell of the fire remains close to the accident site.
– If we cook at home, burn it and forget to throw the leftovers so it smells like it does here, describes the Sun, a woman who does not trust the task only 114 people perished.
A large part of the Chinese public has lost confidence in the information from the authorities in case of accidents and disasters. Many have also received evidence that the truth is hidden. Although censorship is booming, but with smart phones and Internet forum provides information that is contrary to what is said on the evening news on television. The problem is that although rumors and clean errors from spreading.
Each time an accident occurs now filled social media in China with lit candles. Some have ilsknat even written that everyone must open his eyes: “It is not enough lights. We need to demand answers to questions why this could happen and who is responsible. “
When the first fire broke out in the relatively deserted port area of Tianjin was at just after eleven at night. But the fire attracted the many spectators. Chen, a man living on the 24th floor nearby was asleep when it slammed. He thought it was an earthquake.
Then the 18-year-old Tang Xianwang, born in Henan province, probably among the firefighters at the front. A picture of his teenage face sitting on a placard outside a school that has become a rallying after the accident. It was an ad that his parents put up. They searched in vain for her son in a few days. Then they drove to a hotel by the authorities, where they receive free food and accommodation.
When dad Tang Jiakui answer the phone, he says that the police follow him wherever he goes outside. And he can not talk more.
– They are here in the room now, he says if coverage is called one-to-one service.
Later in the day, temporarily left in peace, he speaks on the phone freely about how his son found himself working as a firefighter and six months ago went to Tianjin. He enjoyed the training and discipline. He was satisfied with his salary of 3000 yuan. On Monday, found his dead body.
The parents did not come to the hospital or the morgue. They wanted to visit the place where he died. Maybe later, authorities said.
– We have no demands. Our son is gone and we have nothing. It is irrelevant. What we want is simply a memorial erected over the firefighters as a warning of what could happen, says the father.
