Wastewater cleaning finished at Tianjin blast site

TIANJIN - Specialists have finished the cleaning of a large amount of wastewater at the site of the fatal warehouse blasts in north China's Tianjin Port, local authorities said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday afternoon, the last remaining 700 cubic meters of contaminated water was pumped out of a several-meters-deep pond that formed following the blasts on Aug. 12, said a spokesperson with the government of Tianjin's Binhai New Area.

Environmental protection personnel will step up monitoring on the soil at the site, the spokesperson said.

Workers are restoring roads wrecked by the explosions and a new green area covering about 180,000 square meters around the blast site is being built.

The Binhai New Area has launched safety inspections on companies that handle dangerous chemicals or goods.

Two blasts ripped through a warehouse in the area where large amounts of toxic chemicals were stored, including around 700 tonnes of sodium cyanide. The blasts killed over 160 people.