A massive explosion ripped through central Beirut, injuring thousands of people and blowing out windows in buildings across the city. The blast near the port in the Lebanese capital sent up a huge mushroom cloud-shaped shockwave, flipping cars and damaging distant buildings. It was felt as far as Cyprus, hundreds of miles away.
At least 25 people were killed in the blast and over 2,500 people have been wounded, Health Minister Hamad Hassan told reporters. Footage from the scene captured the injured staggering through streets in the capital; and ambulances, cars, and military vehicles packed with the wounded. One eyewitness described the scenes as “like an apocalypse.”
There were conflicting reports on what caused the explosion, which was initially blamed on a major fire at a warehouse for firecrackers near the port, according to NNA. The director of the general security directorate later said the blast was caused by confiscated “high explosive materials,” but did not provide further details.
A red cloud hung over the city in the wake of the explosion as firefighting teams rushed to the scene to try to put out the fire. At least 10 firefighters were missing, according to the city’s governor Marwan Abboud, who said the scene reminded him of “Hiroshima and Nagasaki.” “In my life, I haven’t seen destruction on this scale,” Abboud said. “This is a national catastrophe.” The blast comes at a tense time in Lebanon. On Friday an UN-backed panel is expected to issue a verdict on the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, a move many fear will stoke sectarian tensions. The country is also in the midst of an economic meltdown, with ballooning unemployment, a tanking currency, and poverty rates soaring above 50%. CNN’s Ben Wedeman reports.

Lebanon declares state of emergency after port explosion

A large blast has hit the Lebanese capital, Beirut, causing widespread damage and injuring many people, officials say.

It is not yet clear what caused the explosion in the port area of the city. Video posted online showed a large mushroom cloud and destroyed buildings.

Hospitals are said to be overwhelmed by casualties.

It comes at a sensitive time with the country’s economic collapse reigniting old tensions.

Tensions are also high ahead of the verdict in a trial over the killing of ex-PM Rafik Hariri in 2005. A UN tribunal is due to issue its verdict in the trial of four suspects in the murder by car bomb of Hariri on Friday.

Lebanon’s health minister, Hamad Hasan, has spoken of many injuries and extensive damage.

Reuters news agency quotes sources as saying 10 bodies have been pulled from the wreckage.

The cause of the explosion is still not known, but some reports suggest it may have been an accident. Lebanon’s National News Agency reported a fire breaking out at what it called an explosives depot at the port.

There is a “high number of injuries” after a blast near the port, the Lebanese health minister said.

The Lebanese government has ordered an investigation into the blast and how two thousand seven hundred and fifty tonnes of the explosive chemical Ammonium Nitrate was stored at the site. We can see just how powerful the blast was by comparing before and after photos of the site. We know the firebrigade was fighting a blaze in a boilding just before the huge explosion. After the explosion the building been completely obliterated, so has the ground underneath it, leaving a water-filled crater and complete destruction around it. Whe talk to a Chemist how Ammonium Nitrate explosions can cause such massive damage.

A store of oil and tires at Beirut’s port has caught fire, a little more than a month after a massive blast devastated the port and a surrounding residential area in the Lebanese capital.

A powerful explosion in Beirut’s port area has killed dozens, injured thousands and caused widespread destruction. The cause seems to be a highly explosive material that was stored for years. The result is more misery for a country already mired in economic crisis and political unrest.

Peu après 18 heures le 4 août, une explosion a dévasté le port de Beyrouth, tuant plus de 200 personnes et en blessant plus de 6 500 autres. Forensic Architecture a été invité par le journal en ligne égyptien Mada Masr à examiner les informations disponibles en source ouverte, y compris des vidéos, des photographies et des documents, permettant de fournir une chronologie et une modélisation 3D précises des événements.

These four scenes caught on camera show the moment life was plunged into chaos in Beirut following massive explosions on Aug. 4 that killed more than 100 people and injured more than 3,000 others.