At least 60 killed by explosion in Beirut port area

Lebanon: Fires rage on as 3,000 are left injured

A massive explosion has rocked Beirut, flattening much of the port, damaging buildings across the Lebanese capital and sending a giant mushroom cloud into the sky.

At least 60 people were killed and 3,000 injured, with bodies buried in the rubble, officials said.

Hours later, ambulances still carried away the wounded as army helicopters helped battle fires raging at the port.

The cause of the blast, which sparked fires, overturned cars and blew out windows and doors, was not immediately known.

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.

Witnesses reported seeing a strange orangecoloured cloud over the site after the explosion. Orange clouds of toxic nitrogen dioxide gas often accompany an explosion involving nitrates.

An Israeli government official said Israel “had nothing to do” with the blast. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss the matter with the media.

The blast was stunning even for a city that has seen civil war, suicide bombings and bombardment by Israel. It could be heard and felt as far away as Cyprus, more than 180 miles across the Mediterranean.

Paola Rebeiz was watching television when the blast hit her home in St Nicolas, around a kilometre south of the site of the explosion, shattering all of her windows.

“People have died on my street... my neighbours told me not to go down to the ground because there are dead bodies on the street after glass fell on them,” she told the PA news agency.

“The house shook. I don’t have electricity. I don’t have water. It’s been non-stop sirens since the explosion.”

Emergency teams streamed in from across Lebanon to help, and injured had to be taken to hospitals outside the capital.

Some of those injured lay on the ground at the port, Associated Press staff at the scene said. A civil defence official said there were still bodies inside the port, many under debris.

Beirut’s governor, Marwan Abboud, broke into tears as he toured the site, saying, “Beirut is a devastated city.”

“The house shook... It’s been non-stop sirens since the blast”

SCENE: Lebanese security officers run to the massive explosion that hit downtown Beirut, flattening much of the port, damaging buildings and blowing out windows