Soldiers of the PLA's chemical-defence unit detect toxic substances at the Tianjin blast site in Binhai New Area on Aug. 24, 2015. (Photo : Getty Images)
China commemorates the death of nearly 200 people following blasts from a chemical warehouse in Tianjin a year ago today as the country mourns yet another set of victims in a similar but more recent incident.
Now, it seems as though the country has yet to learn the lesson of the incident as it witnesses yet another catastrophic explosion that has taken innocent lives and threatens the environment as well.
Tianjin Chemical Explosion
On August 12, 2015, the people China and the world were shocked to find a quickly rising death toll from explosions involving a chemical plant in the port city of Tianjin.
According to a September 2015 report from The Guardian, the death toll has risen to as much as 173 as the final wave of search and rescue operations concludes.
According to the Xinhua News Agency, authorities found out that the Tianjin chemical plant had been unlawfully storing flammable chemicals particularly "alcohol materials."
Since then, environmentalists have repeatedly called for more actions from China's policy makers in order to prevent a similar catastrophe from happening again.
"Even though temporarily, we've seen a process of much greater tightening of regulations, what is needed are comprehensive and effective restraints," Greenpeace chemicals expert Cheng Qian told Reuters.
While the Chinese government had repeatedly assured that the explosion poses no risk to the environment, they also confirmed that they are implementing stricter regulations on chemical plants in the country.
Hubei Explosion
Now, a year after the incident as China still grieves, yet another incident of the same kind killed more than 20 people in the central province of Hubei while another 5 were reportedly injured, according to People's Daily.
According to the Radio Times, this year's explosion which occurred happened in another chemical power plant in central China.
But this time, the incident involved a chemical plant located in Dangyang in the Hubei province where 21 people were reportedly killed while five have been injured in the blast. Three of the injured were found to be in critical condition.
Rescuers are still working to locate other possible victims.
Initial reports cited by the South China Morning Post indicate that the explosion was due to a broken high pressure steam tube in the plant which is owned by the Madian Gangue Power Generation.
The explosion occurred at around 3:20 pm on Thursday, a day prior to the country's commemoration of the first anniversary of the Tianjin explosion.
