Dozens dead and 2,500 hurt in Beirut blast
A massive explosion has rocked Beirut, flattening much of the port and damaging buildings across the Lebanese capital.
The country’s health minister said more than 25 people were killed and over 2,500 injured.
A civil defence official on the scene of the blast said his men had evacuated dozens to hospitals and that there were still bodies inside the port, many of them under debris.
The cause of the blast was not immediately known, but Abbas Ibrahim, chief of Lebanese General Security, said it might have been caused by highly explosive material that was confiscated from a ship some time ago and stored at the port. Local television channel LBC said the material was sodium nitrate.
It was stunning even for a city that has been shaken by civil war, suicide bombings and bombardment by Israel.
Dozens of ambulances ferried the injured from the port area, where the wounded lay on the ground, Associated Press staff at the scene said. Hospitals called for blood donations.
The head of the Lebanese Red Cross told local TV there were hundreds of casualties although many were superficial wounds from broken glass.
Video taken by
residents showed a fire raging at the port, sending up a giant column of smoke, illuminated by flashes of what appear to be fireworks. Local TV stations reported that a fireworks warehouse was involved.
The fire then appeared to catch at a nearby building, triggering a more massive explosion, sending up a mushroom cloud and a shock wave over the city.
“It was like a nuclear explosion,” said Walid Abdo, a 43-yearold school teacher in the neighbourhood of Gemayzeh near Beirut.
Charbel Haj, who works at the port, said it started as small explosions like firecrackers, then the huge blast erupted and he was thrown off clothes were torn.
Miles from the port, balconies were knocked down, windows shattered, streets were covered with glass and bricks and lined with wrecked cars.
his
feet. His