The heroes who didn't return: Tianjin mourns firefighters lost in port blaze

Zhang Kuan, 48, regrets having introduced his nephew to the firefighting department at Tianjin's port.

His nephew, Zheng Guangliang, was a firefighter in team No 1. He arrived at the scene of the fire five minutes before the second blast and has been missing since.

"The firefighters in the same vehicle with him are all missing now," Zhang said. "The commander should have given them the right orders. I hope the investigation finds out whether he did."

He called for authorities to be transparent about the rescue mission. "I know nothing about the rescue. Are they still looking for the missing? Is the air safe there?"

His nephew, who turned 18 in May, joined the firefighting unit in June, and was still in training when he rushed to the scene. "I don't think he should have been sent there," Zhang said. "He did not have enough knowledge. He hadn't passed the evaluation yet."

His nephew, from Qing county in Hebei province, made his last call home at around 10pm that night for his daily chat with his mother. The family did not learn of the fatal blast until the next morning.