Mourners grieve on 7th day after Tianjin disaster
Print Edition
AFTER placing a bouquet of white chrysanthemums beside a photograph of their son, an elderly couple were close to collapse.
Zi Fuchang and his wife had traveled from Zhoukou in central China’s Henan Province to the northern port city of Tianjin, an 800-kilometer journey, to bid a final farewell to their son.
Firefighter Zi Qinghai, 20, was one of the 114 people who lost their lives in the massive explosions that tore through a warehouse in Tianjin last Wednesday.
“Qinghai was due to end his service this September,” his mother Guo Xianzhen said, choking back tears.
Qinghai’s sister Zi Fangfang said she would forever be haunted by the image of her bother’s body, which she had to identify.
“He was almost unrecognizable,” she said. “His body bent over, and his right hand still clenched.”
As rain fell in Tianjin yesterday, the seventh day after the blasts, mourners observed a moment of silence for the dead.
According to Chinese tradition, the soul returns home on the seventh day after death. It is typically a day spent in mourning.
Cargo ships’ horns blared in honor of the dead, punctuating the heavy silence of those gathered to pay tribute to their loved ones.
Sirens were also sounded as hundreds of Tianjin development zone firefighters bowed before photographs of their deceased colleagues.
At the TEDA Hospital, where many of the wounded are being treated, staff arranged candles in the shape of a heart outside the entrance to the accident and emergency department.
More than 300 people, including officials from the city government, observed a moment of silence in a garden in Binhai New Area, where the warehouse was located.
Firefighters, armed police, volunteers and relatives left flowers in front of a memorial wall, where a simple sign read: “Condolences to those who died in the August 12 accident.”
One woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said her birthday was on the day of the explosions.
“I had just finished celebrating when the building began to shake. I thought it was an earthquake,” she said, sobbing. Her apartment was 10 kilometers from the blast site.
“The sky lit up. It was horrible,” she said. “I will never be happy on my birthday again.”
Soldiers are still searching for survivors, picking their way through the debris and “maze of containers” at the site and nearby residences.
The blasts have left many unanswered questions.
How did the warehouse, which was so close to a residential area, secure a license? Were residents made aware of the hazard? What caused the fire? Who is to blame?
Although Ruihai International Logistics, the company that managed the warehouse, were licensed to handle the chemicals it contained, an executive with the company said it had “handled hazardous chemicals for a period without a license.”
Questions are also being asked of a supposed poll of 128 people that lived in close proximity to the warehouse. Conducted by environmental authorities as part of a certification process, the poll concluded that “most respondents supported the project, with no objections.”
Residents, however, claim they had no knowledge of what was being stored in the warehouse.
Many residents have lost their homes.
“I have lost everything, except the debts for my apartment that I haven’t paid off,” said one unnamed resident.
Zi Qinghai’s parents still have no idea what happened to their son in his last moments.
“He liked his job,” said his mother. “He had told me that even after his service ended, he would continue to be a firefighter.”
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