'Is the air safe?' Post reporter tells of stinging eyes and headaches at scene of Chinese chemical blast

It started with a headache and occasional stinging in my eyes on Thursday afternoon, a few hours after I arrived at Teda Hospital. Many people injured in the massive explosions in Tianjin the night before were still being treated.

It must be an emotional reaction, I thought, not a physical one. After all, the air smelled OK - not pungent - and so many people including doctors, nurses, the injured and their relatives, reporters, volunteers and policemen were walking about, breathing normally.

But later in the day, other reporters complained of similar symptoms. Now I was not so sure.

A taxi driver, surnamed Xu, who had been driving the injured and relatives around for whole day, for free, reported the same thing to me that evening.

"Is the air safe?" he asked. "My eyes sting, especially after I stand awhile in the open air outside the hospital. I had to go back to my car and close all the windows."

I could tell him only what officials had said: that air monitoring indicated that any toxic fumes were within safe limits.