»»Russian businessman could face quiz over fertiliser blamed for blast
reported “mountains of glass” and hospitals are filled to breaking point. Bilal, a man in his 60s, said: “This is the killer blow for Beirut, we are a disaster zone.” And Marwan Ramadan added: “It was a horror show. I haven’t seen anything like that since the civil war.”
There have been no reports of British fatalities so far.
Brit Claire Malleson, 45, who was three miles from the blast, said: “I could see damage to buildings and a glowing red cloud. Everyone was walking in a daze. Everyone was saying they felt earthquake-like shakings.”
Lebanon’s prime minister, Hassan Diab, appealed for help, saying: “We are witnessing a catastrophe.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the UK is “ready to provide support”.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab confirmed we will send £5million of aid, along with teams of medical and search and rescue experts. He added: “We have a Royal Navy survey ship in the area which can assess damage to the port.”
HMS Enterprise will set off from Cyprus next week.
The British Red Cross has also launched an emergency appeal to support the relief effort.
And the Queen sent a message to Aoun to say she and the Duke of Edinburgh were “deeply saddened” by the disaster.
Meanwhile Grechushkin, who lives in Cyprus, may face questions. His ship was abandoned after it was detained in Lebanon carrying the ammonium nitrate in 2013.
The cargo was later transferred to Beirut, where it had spent six years in the port.
In 2014, the ship’s captain, Boris Prokoshev, warned it was “a powder keg”. And a Russian paper branded the vessel “a floating bomb”.
An arrest warrant was handed to Lebanese troops for anyone involved in controlling the storage of the ammonium nitrate in Beirut.
I haven’t seen anything like that since the civil war
MARWAN RAMADAN ON SCALE OF THE BLAST