China to rebuild train station destroyed in Tianjin blasts

Workers have begun dismantling a train station for reconstruction in China's Tianjin city after it was damaged in the fatal warehouse blasts on August 12.

The new Donghailu stop of the No.9 light-rail transit line will be built at the original site, and design work is under way, Xinhua quoted a source with the Tianjin Binhai Mass Transit Development Co. Ltd. as saying on Monday.

The five-storey building, which housed an operation control centre, a training centre and a laboratory, cannot be used any longer due to severe damage, said the source from the company, which operates the light-rail line.

More than 30 staff members in the building were injured and an empty subway train was damaged in the blasts, which tore through a container warehouse that stored large amounts of toxic chemicals at the Tianjin port.

The station was only about 650 metres away from the blast site. The subway line, which links the downtown of Tianjin and the Binhai New Area, suspended operation after the accident.

A total of 165 people, including 99 firefighters and 11 police officers, were killed. Eight people, mainly firefighters, are still missing. More than 200 of the injured remain in hospitals.

Investigators have located the site where the fire broke out and have investigated the material that led to the fire, said a member of an investigation team under the state council last Friday.

Cleaning of the warehouse ruins has been completed, and a park will be built on the site.