Insurance losses following the explosions that devastated the Chinese port city of Tianjin last Wednesday could reach $1.5bn, making it China’s most costly catastrophe in recent years, rating agency Fitch warned yesterday.
The death toll after the blast at a chemicals warehouse that engulfed a block of the port stands at 114, with another 57 missing and hundreds injured.
Investigations into the cause are continuing. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, China’s anti-corruption agency, said yesterday that Yang Dongliang, head of the country’s workplace safety regulator, had been held on suspicion of “severe disciplinary violations”. It did not specify any charges against Mr Yang, who was deputy mayor of Tianjin from 2001 to 2012.