‘Air and water at Tianjin blast site both safe’ says official as report claims nerve gas detected

A Tianjin city environment official has reassured the public that air and water supplies around the deadly blast site are safe following reports that an unidentified nerve gas was found in the area.

Bao Jingling, chief engineer of Tianjin’s environmental protection bureau, also said on Wednesday that he had received no reports of anyone at the scene being taken to hospital with symptoms of chemical poisoning, including cyanide poisoning.

His comments came after state broadcaster CCTV raised public concerns after reporting that an unidentified nerve gas had been detected at the site, close to the city’s port area.

Li Xinghua, a fire official, was quoted in the CCTV report saying that safety teams cleaning up the blast site had detected dangerously high levels of sodium cyanide and nerve gas.

Sodium cyanide can react with water to produce poisonous cyanide gas and public fears were already high after rainfall fell over the blast site for the first time since the tragedy on Tuesday.