Explosion ‘akin to Hiroshima’
Aussie among at least 100 victims of massive Beirut blast
AUSTRALIAN families were last night still desperately seeking news on loved ones following the “nuclear-like” explosion in Beirut that killed at least 100 people — including one Australian — and injured more than 4000.
Staff at the Australian embassy were among the thousands injured in the blast, as officials scrambled to determine how many Australians may have been caught up in the carnage.
Shocking pictures show flattened buildings, walking wounded, and a sea of rubble in the wake of the devastating explosion, which could be heard almost 200km away in Cyprus.
The country’s Supreme Defence Council has declared the city a “disaster zone” and recommended a two-week state of emergency in the capital and the handing over of security responsibility to military authorities.
It is not yet clear what caused the blast in the city’s port on Wednesday morning Australian time but Lebanon’s PM said a ticking time bomb of 2750 tonnes of fertiliser chemical ammonium nitrate was stored on a Beirut dock that fuelled one of the world’s biggest peacetime explosions.
Lebanese officials confirmed that the chemicals had been stored there for six years without adequate safeguards.
Maintenance workers who were welding at the port sparked a small fire, according to local media reports, that then exploded in scenes described by witnesses as “apocalyptic”.
Shocked Beirut governor Marwan Abboud compared the blast to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear attacks. Breaking into tears, he said: “I ask the Lebanese people to pull together.”
He said the number of fatalities was expected to skyrocket.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday said it was with “deep regret” that one Australian had been killed in the horrific blast.
“Our hearts go out to all of those in Lebanon and in Beirut in particular at the moment. You can see from the image of the blast, it is just absolutely devastating,” Mr Morrison said.
“Beyond that, as we know, there are hundreds of thousands of Australians who have Lebanese descent and they’ll be concerned about family members.”
Horrifying videos of the explosion show an enormous mushroom cloud over the city followed by a shockwave.
“I saw a fireball and smoke billowing over Beirut. People were screaming and running, bleeding. Balconies were blown off buildings. Glass in high-rise buildings shattered and fell to the street,” one witness said.
The force of the blast shattered about 95 per cent of windows in the Australian embassy building.