Massive explosions rocked downtown Beirut on Tuesday, leaving 30 or more people dead and thousands injured, according to numerous reports.
Two explosions shook Beirut flattening a sizeable amount of the part, ravaging buildings, wounding thousands of people and killing a number of people that has not yet been confirmed, Lebanon’s health minister, Hamad Hassan told the New York Times. Witnesses saw many people injured by flying glass and debris.
Two explosions shook Beirut on Tuesday, the second one with enough force to break windows over a radius of miles, damaging and shaking buildings, wounding hundreds of people and strewing debris over a wide area.
At least 30 people had died and 2,500 suffered injuries, several local news organizations reported. With the wounded still streaming into hospitals and the search for missing people underway, the figures were likely to go higher.
Just one hospital, Rizk Hospital, said 400 people had gone there to be treated for injuries suffered in the disaster, according to the National News Agency, indicating how widespread the destruction was.
The Lebanese Red Cross said that every available ambulance from North Lebanon, Bekaa and South Lebanon was being dispatched to Beirut to help patients. At least one hospital was overwhelmed and was turning wounded people away.
Videos showed the devastation
Videos posted online showed a shock wave erupting from the second explosion, knocking people down and enveloping much of the center city in a cloud of dust and smoke. Cars were overturned and streets were blocked by debris, forcing many injured people to walk to hospitals.
Flames continued to rise from the rubble well after the explosions, and a cloud of smoke, tinted pink in the sunset, rose thousands of feet into the sky.
Videos of the aftermath posted online showed wounded people bleeding amid the dust and rubble and damage where flying debris had punched holes in walls and furniture. On social media, people reported damage to homes and cars far from the port.
The disaster may have started with a fire at a warehouse, state-run media said.
“Highly explosive materials,” seized by the government years ago, were stored where the explosions occurred, said Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, head of Lebanon’s general security service, according to the National News Agency.
An Associated Press photographer near the port saw people lying injured on the ground, and hospitals called for blood donations, but exact casualties were not immediately known.
Miles from the scene of the blast, balconies were knocked down, ceiling collapsed and windows were shattered.
The cause of the blast was not immediately clear. It came at a time when Lebanon is passing through its worst economic and financial crisis in decades.
It also comes amid rising tensions between Israel and the militant Hezbollah group along Lebanon's southern border.
Online video showed a column of smoke rising from the port area from what appeared to be an initial explosion, followed by a massive blast that sent up a mushroom cloud and a shock wave racing over the city.
Some local TV stations reported the blast was at Beirut’s port inside an area where fireworks were stored.
The Latest
Featured
