A top United Nations expert has criticized China over its handling of the chemical blasts in the northern city of Tianjin, saying a better flow of information may have lessened or even prevented the disaster.
Baskut Tuncak, the U.N.’s special rapporteur on human rights and hazardous substances and wastes, called on the Chinese government to ensure complete transparency in the investigation of the disaster, which killed at least 114 people. Some 65 people remain missing.
“The lack of information when needed — information that could have mitigated or perhaps even prevented this disaster — is truly tragic,” Tuncak said in a statement released Wednesday.
“Moreover, the reported restrictions on public access to health and safety information and freedom of the press in the aftermath are deeply disturbing, particularly to the extent it risks increasing the number of victims of this disaster.”
The blunt rebuke comes after China’s State Council formed an investigative committee to “give a responsible answer” on the cause of the disaster and promised “serious punishment” for those responsible.
The explosions impacted a huge swathe of the city: 17,000 homes damaged, more than 170 companies affected and 3,000 cars destroyed.
On Wednesday, Tianjin Mayor Huang Xingguo addressed the media for the first time, saying he bore “an unshirkable responsibility” for the blasts.
Safety violations
News reports have suggested that safety violations and corporate negligence may have played a role in the disaster.
The blasts occurred at a warehouse where 700 tons of highly toxic substances, mainly sodium cyanide, were being stored, state media has reported. As of Wednesday, 150 tons of the substance, which can kill humans, had been removed.
The company that owned the site had a license to handle dangerous chemicals but only since June. The company’s previous license lapsed in October 2014.
“After the first license expired, we applied for an extension. We did not cease operation because we did not think it was a problem. Many other companies have continued working without a license,” Yu Xuewei, chairman of Rui Hai International Logistics was quoted by state news agency Xinhua as saying.
Yu, along with nine other executives, is in detention.
The Xinhua report also said that the company’s major shareholder, Dong Shexuan, was the son of a former police chief for Tianjin Port and the connection helped the business.
Angry residents in Tianjin with homes near the blast site have shared concerns about the long-term environmental and health consequences of the blasts.
City authorities have said that air and water quality outside the blast zone was in the normal range.
