Death Toll Climbs after Explosions Rock China City

The death toll continues to climb in the massive explosions that rocked the Chinese port city of Tianjin Wednesday night.  Fifty people have been killed in the warehouse blasts, including a dozen firefighters.

The powerful explosions devastated the city, blowing out the windows of high rise apartments and destroying office buildings.
   
More than 500 are injured, and some people are still missing.

"I was sleeping and got woken up by a massive explosion," eyewitness Monica Andrews recalled. "I could just feel my whole building shake. I thought it was an earthquake. So I just kind of woke up in a panic, looked out the window and the sky was red."

The National Earthquake Bureau reported two major blasts before midnight – the first with an equivalent of three tons of TNT, and the second with the equivalent of 21 tons.

The explosions took place in a mostly industrial economic development zone.

Government officials and state media say the warehouse stored dangerous materials. More than a thousand firefighters responded to the explosions.

"I was in the city just a couple of hours before the explosions took place. I would like to congratulate the prompt response of the authorities in seeking to minimize the loss of life," U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said.
    
At least a half-dozen logistics companies were destroyed in the blasts and more than a thousand new cars were burned in a nearby car park.