A week ago, massive explosions rocked the north-eastern coastal city of Tianjin, China, killing at least 114 people and 57 people missing. The blasts, which looked like something out of a Hollywood thriller, were bad enough, but Tianjin has now moved firmly into apocalyptic disaster territory.
On Tuesday, with heavy rainfall falling on the site for the first time since the blasts, mysterious white-coloured foam started to stream onto the Huanghai Road, 5.5 kilometres away from the site of the blasts.
Although it was still not established if the white foam was connected to the blasts, a number of people who came into contact with the substance reported having a burning sensation on their skins.
During a news conference on August 18, Bao Jingling, the chief engineer of the Tianjin Environmental Protection Bureau said that workers are doing their best to clean up the sodium cyanide mess but dust from the explosion would remain a large risk. At least 3,000 tonnes of chemicals - including 700 tonnesof sodium cyanide - were in the warehouse where the two blasts occurred.
Workers have been using hydrogen peroxide to neutralize sodium cyanide in the area, which is equally deadly, according to environment experts. Meanwhile, the experts have collected water samples to investigate the sudden appearance of white foam around the city.
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