CNN journalist covering China explosion mobbed live on air by relatives of victims

Dozens are feared to have been killed by blasts in the north-eastern city of Tianjin
The CNN journalist was mobbed outside the hospital
CNN
Sebastian Mann13 August 2015

This was the moment a CNN journalist covering the deadly explosions in China was mobbed live on air by a crowd of angry relatives outside a hospital.

More than 40 people, including at least 12 firefighters, are confirmed dead but dozens others are feared killed and hundreds have been injured.

In efforts to cover the disaster in the north-eastern port city of Tianjin, American television reporter Will Ripley streamed video of himself live outside the entrance of a hospital where victims of the blast are being treated.

Amid questioning by a CNN news anchor, the journalist appears to become surrounded by people - said to be relatives and friends of the victims - who remonstrate fiercely with him for reporting from the scene.

Mr Ripley, broadcasting over Skype using a hand-held camera, can then be heard trying to calm the situation before being cut off, prompting the anchor to suggest "security" have intervened.

The journalist later tweeted: "Tempers obviously running high after an awful night in #Tianjin. I'm fine. A lot of people here aren't."

Two huge explosions tore through an industrial area where toxic chemicals and gas are stored on Wednesday night.

At least 520 people were injured, more than 60 of them seriously, the Tianjin government said on its Weibo microblog, and the People's Daily newspaper said four fires were still burning.

The blasts were so large that they were seen by satellites in space and sent shockwaves through apartment blocks kilometres away in the port city of 15 million people.

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