Tianjin announces pensions for martyred firefighters' families

Firefighters hold three-minute silence at a ceremony to mark the seventh day since the blasts rocked a warehouse storing hazardous chemicals in Tianjin Binhai New Area, Aug 18. [Photo/Xinhua]

Families of the firefighters who died while trying to save lives in the Tianjin blasts will be granted 2.3 million yuan ($360,669) pensions, the Beijing News quoted those firefighter's relatives as saying on Thursday.

A total of 97 firefighters, 11 policemen and 55 civilians were killed in the explosions, while hundreds remain in hospital.

The firefighters were posthumously accepted as martyrs, and a monument will be built on the site of the blasts in memory of those who lost their lives in the accident, Binhai New Area authorities announced Friday.

Tianjin plans to build a 24-hectare park on the site of the blast and the monument will be given pride of place, according to Binhua New Area Planning and Land Resources Administration.

Apart from the pensions granted to the firefighters' families, the government plans to compensate the residents whose houses were damaged in the blasts.

Government in Tianjin's Binhai New Area, where the explosions happened, said the repurchase price for the damaged houses in the blasts will be 1.3 times of the house price at which the residents bought their homes.