Deaths and destruction follow huge explosions in Tianjin port

Tianjin

A SERIES of enormous explosions at an industrial area in the Chinese port of Tianjin killed at least 44 people and injured more than 500, state media reported on Thursday.

An AFP reporter at the scene saw shattered glass up to three kilometres from the blast site, after a shipment of explosives detonated in a warehouse, raining debris on the city and starting huge fires.

Images showed a monumental blast soaring into the air, walls of flame enveloping buildings, ranks of burned-out cars, and shipping containers scattered like children's building blocks.

Paramedics stretchered the wounded into the city's hospitals as doctors bandaged up victims, many of them …