Containers caught fire before blasts in China

Several containers caught fire before a warehouse in China's Tianjin city was rocked by a series of explosions, leaving 44 dead and over 500 injured, authorities said on Thursday.

Fire-fighters arrived at the Tianjin Port on Wednesday night following a report that containers were on fire, Xinhua quoted Zhou Tian, head of Tianjin's public security bureau's fire department, as saying on Thursday.

However, authorities said the cause of the blasts on Wednesday is still under investigation.

Another batch of fire-fighters arrived after a gap of 10 minutes, according to Zhou, roughly 14 minutes before the first warehouse blast occurred.

The blasts were massive enough to register as seismic activity.

So far more than 1,000 fire-fighters, 151 fire engines and a drone have been dispatched to the blast site, Zhou said.