Beirut explosion rocks Lebanon’s capital city

A massive explosion that rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Tuesday left at least 135 people dead and thousands injured.

Authorities scrambled to treat the wounded, search for survivors, and assess the full extent of the damage on Wednesday.

Here’s what we know about the blast so far:

Four Bangladeshi nationals were killed and nearly 100 others were injured in the explosion in Beirut on Tuesday, the country’s state-run news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) reported, citing senior officials at its embassy in Lebanon.  

Among the injured were 21 members of the Bangladesh Navy, who were on duty at the port as part of the United Nations peacekeeping mission, BSS said, adding that one of the navy personnel is in critical condition. 

France’s Eiffel Tower will go dark at midnight local time tonight to honor the victims of the Beirut explosion, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo tweeted. 

The city of Paris will provide an emergency aid of 100,000 euros — which is about $118,861 — to Beirut, Hidalgo said.

This satellite image, obtained by CNN from Planet Labs Inc., shows a massive crater at the site of Tuesday's explosion in Beirut's port.

The diameter of the Beirut crater created by Tuesday’s explosion appears to be roughly 124 meters — or about 405 feet, according to a CNN analysis of a Planet Labs, Inc. satellite image.

That distance means the crater is well over a football field in length.

CNN utilized geospatial software to measure the satellite imagery of the explosion site. The assessment is accurate within 10 meters.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper arrives for a House Armed Services Committee hearing on July 9.

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the US is “still getting information on what happened” in regard to the explosion in Beirut, and that “most believe that it was an accident, as reported.”

US defense officials have told CNN there is no indication at the moment that the blast was an attack, despite President Trump calling it as such yesterday.

Esper’s remarks came as part of a discussion with the annual Aspen Security Forum, where he said he spoke about the blast with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this morning.

The site of the explosion is seen from a damaged apartment building in Beirut on August 5.

The US State Department is “aware of at least one US citizen killed, and several more injured, by the explosion” in Beirut, a spokesperson said Wednesday.

“All US Chief of Mission personnel in Beirut are safe and accounted for and US Embassy Beirut is open,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said they are urging “US citizens in the affected areas who are safe to contact their loved ones directly and/or update their status on social media.”

“If you are in the affected area and need immediate emergency services, please contact local authorities. We urge US citizens to avoid the affected areas / shelter in place and follow the directions of local authorities,” they said.

Hospitals in Beirut are overwhelmed with casualties, with four of its hospitals out of service due to damage by the explosion. Even under this already high level of strain, Firass Abiad, CEO of Rafik Hariri University Hospital, says the situation will escalate and the death toll will climb further.

“I think that it’s very likely that those numbers will increase. What we are hearing today from some of the EMS services that are sweeping buildings, that are in the vicinity of the blasts, is that they are finding bodies,” he said.

The crisis comes to the city and its hospitals amid already existing challenges.

Rafik Hariri University Hospital was already running low on its medical supplies due to the financial crisis in Lebanon when Covid-19 hit, Abiad said. And in this backdrop of a surge in cases during a second wave, came the casualties from Tuesday’s explosion, completely overwhelming the hospital. Now, it’s about to run out of supplies.

The financial crisis, the coronavirus pandemic and the explosion has put his team “in the middle of a perfect storm,” he added.

The way the staff at the hospital has reacted to the crisis has been “silver lining,” Abiad said.

“When this happened, part of my staff were finishing their shift and going home. And they just came back,” he said. “They were filled with empathy toward the patients and kindness. And I think the only hope I see with all of this is the ability of the human spirit to endure these hardships.”

Watch more:

UK will send 5 million GBP (approximately $6.6 million) in aid to Lebanon and will also provide medical and search and rescue experts to help in the aftermath of the Beirut blast, Britain’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told reporters on Wednesday.

Raab said he had spoken to the Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab, and that a British Navy ship was “in the area” and ready to help. 

Wounded people wait to receive help outside a hospital on August 4.

At least 100 people are dead and 4,000 wounded following an explosion in Lebanon’s capital city of Beirut. While it is still unclear what caused the explosion, the city is decimated with thousands of residents left homeless, a medical system strained and up to $5 billion worth of damage.

You can help raise funds for supplies and assistance so desperately needed by clicking the button in this link.

Several charities are on the ground providing medical care, shelter, supplies and other desperately needed services to help the city recover and rebuild.

You can contribute by clicking here.

A Catholic church in Beirut was televising its Tuesday mass as part of its Covid-19 safety protocols, but it was interrupted when the massive explosion went off.

Video of the service shows parts of the ceiling falling as a priest ran for cover, getting injured in the process.

Pope Francis has called on people to pray for Lebanon in the aftermath of Tuesday’s deadly explosion.

Watch the moment here from Al Hurra TV:

The death toll for Tuesday’s blast increased to 135, Lebanon’s Health Minister Hamad Hassan told Al-Manar television.

Another 5,000 people are wounded and dozens more are still missing, he said. 

The office of the Paris prosecutor said in a statement on Wednesday that 21 French nationals were injured in the blast in Beirut.

This has prompted the Prosecutor’s Office to open an “investigation for unintentional injury,” the statement says, a standard procedure when French nationals are injured abroad, a source close to the investigation told CNN. 

French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Beirut on Thursday to show “solidarity” with the Lebanese people in the aftermath of Tuesday’s disastrous explosion, according to the Twitter account of the Lebanese presidency.

Ghassan Hasrouty worked in the port in Beirut where the massive explosion took place. He went to work Tuesday morning, and that’s the last time his family saw him. Now, his daughter Tatiana Hasrouty said she is considering the possibility that he’s trapped under rubble.

Hasrouty expressed her frustration with the government’s response to the disaster, saying the authorities are not searching the blast site.

“No authority is searching for them where they are,” Hasrouty says. “They say they don’t have the capabilities, they don’t have machines or construction machines to remove the rocks to find them. But we know for him and other workers of his, they are stuck there.”

“We don’t really know what to do,” she added. “It’s really frustrating and devastating.”

She said no authority has contacted the family.

Watch Tatiana’s plea:

CNN’s senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman went inside a home overlooking the port where Tuesday’s massive explosion took place in Beirut. The home was inhabited by an elderly couple.

Looking out through the walls of the home that have collapsed, Wedeman describes the state of the warehouse that exploded. What was simply dry ground before, Wedeman says, is now a crater, with water flowing into the area.

The Lebanese government has committed to conducting a transparent investigation into the explosion, but Wedeman says it is “scant consolation” to the families of those killed, injured and missing.

Beirut’s governor said in an interview earlier today that at least 300,000 people have been displaced from their homes by the blast.

Go inside the home damaged by the explosion:

An aerial view of Beirut.

Lebanese authorities declared Beirut a “disaster city” on Wednesday, according to Lebanon State-run NNA news, citing a statement released by the country’s Minister of Information Manal Abdel Samad Najd.

A state of emergency has been declared in Beirut for two weeks, Najd said in the statement, adding this could be extended.

The country’s Council of Ministers made the two decisions on Wednesday in an “extraordinary session” headed by President Michel Aoun and in the presence of the prime minister.

It was also decided in the extraordinary session “to instruct the High Relief Commission to secure shelter for families whose homes are no longer fit for housing, open schools and hotels to receive citizens, and request from the security services to ensure Not to tamper with the crime scene,” the statement said.

A nurse in Beirut takes care of three babies in a damaged hospital on August 4.

A nurse pulled three babies out of a hospital rocked by the massive explosion in Beirut on Tuesday, a photographer who took her picture told CNN Arabic.

Photojournalist Bilal Jawich said he was at home on the outskirts of Beirut when the blast, which has left at least 100 dead and thousands injured, rocked the Lebanese capital.

“I followed the smoke until I reached the port of Beirut,” he said, explaining that “professional intuition” took him to Al Roum hospital, in the Ashrafieh district. The area has been left devastated by the blast.

“However, the nurse looked like she possessed a hidden force that gave her self-control and the ability to save those children,” Jawich said. “People stand out amidst these violent and dark and evil circumstances and this nurse was up to the task.”

Jawich said the nurse told him later that evening that she was in the maternity ward when the blast hit. She said she had been knocked unconscious, and when she came around “found herself carrying these three children,” he told CNN Arabic.

Not everyone in the hospital was so lucky. George Saad, emergency preparedness and disaster manager for the hospital told CNN that some 12 patients, two visitors and four nurses died in yesterday’s incident, while two remain in critical condition. Some 80% of the hospital had been damaged, along with 50% of its equipment, he said.

WATCH:

Drone footage captured by CNN this morning showed the destruction left in the wake of Tuesday’s deadly explosion in Beirut.

At least 100 people were killed in the blast, and the death toll could rise as many more people are reported missing. At least 4,000 people were injured in the explosion.

Watch the footage:

A helicopter fights a fire at the scene of an explosion on August 4.

We’re still not exactly sure what caused the deadly explosion in Beirut yesterday, but Lebanon’s prime minister said an investigation would focus on an estimated 2,750 metric tons of the explosive ammonium nitrate stored at a warehouse.

So what is ammonium nitrate? Also known as AN, it’s a compound of ammonia and nitrogen, is a highly volatile material used in agricultural fertilizers and bombs.

Disasters involving AN are rare, considering the US uses millions of tons of it every year in fertilizers, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. “Pure” solid AN is quite stable, but if the compound is mixed with any contaminants, even in small traces, the mixture becomes much more prone to detonation  — which is why there are normally stringent government guidelines for how to treat and store it properly.

For instance, AN shouldn’t be stored with any fuel, organic materials, chlorides or metals, said the guide — all potential contaminants. The EPA guidelines also recommend fire resistant walls in the storage unit, noncombustible flooring, and — crucially — controlled temperatures.

AN doesn’t burn, but if exposed to heat, it can melt — which releases combustible toxic gases that can cause an explosion. It’s even more dangerous if there is a large supply of AN all stored together, because once a small section of AN begins to melt and explode, the resulting heat can set off the rest of the supply.

Some history: One of the worst disasters in US history involving a form of ammonia occurred in April 1947 when a ship loaded with ammonium nitrate caught fire while docked in Texas City. The fire caused an explosion and additional fires that damaged more than 1,000 buildings and killed nearly 400 people, according to the website of the Texas Historical Association.

For perspective, that explosion was triggered by 2,300 US tons (about 2087 metric tons) of ammonium nitrate, according to US Homeland Security.

And the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing, a US domestic terror attack that killed 169 people and injured 467, used only two US tons (1.8 metric tons) of ammonium nitrate.

August 5.

This satellite image from Planet Labs, Inc, showed the destruction left in the wake of yesterday’s deadly explosion in Beirut.

At least 100 people were killed in the blast, and the death toll could rise as many more people are reported missing. At least 4,000 people were injured in the explosion.

For comparison, here’s what the port area looked like before the blast:

May 31.

The Lebanese cabinet has ordered that “officials” involved in the Beirut port explosion be placed under house arrest “in the coming days,” the Lebanese Minister of Displaced People Ghada Shreim said without providing further details.

An injured person sits by a restaurant on August 5.

Every single business in Beirut has been affected by yesterday’s deadly blast, Lebanon’s Economy Minister Raoul Nehme said.

“There is not one apartment in Beirut that wasn’t impacted, not one businesses that wasn’t impacted – whether the storefront of the goods” he said. 

”The impact on the economy is massive and the port has been practically erased,” Nehme told CNBC Arabia in an interview Wednesday, adding it was too soon to fully gauge the scale of the damage on the economy. 

He said the government’s priority was to secure people’s basic necessities – mainly food but also supplies to help repair the extensive damage to homes and infrastructure across the city. 

Turkey is sending search and rescue teams, health care workers, medical supplies and other urgent humanitarian aid to help in the aftermath of the blast in Beirut, according to the Turkish foreign ministry.

Turkey is also planning on setting up a field hospital, the ministry said in a written statement. 

Qatar sent a plane filled with medical supplies to Lebanon to help victims of the Beirut explosion, according to a tweet from the Qatari government.

The first plane arrived today, and the government will send three more carrying equipment for hospitals.

A person stands by damaged buildings and vehicles on August 5.

Lebanon’s Health Minister Hamad Hassan said Tuesday’s explosion that killed at least 100 people and wounded 4,000 added to the country’s health care system crisis as it has been already struggling with the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It requires everyone to engage positively from politicians, political parties, authorities, and from all friendly and brotherly countries because we suffer from a shortage in the number of beds and a lack of equipment to help injured people and those are in critical conditions,” Hassan added.

People walk past a damaged building on August 5.

A deadly explosion shook Beirut yesterday. The Lebanon capital’s 4 million residents woke this morning to the full horror and scale of the damage to their city, lives, and livelihoods.

If you’re just reading in now, here’s what we know so far about the massive blast:

Watch CNN’s Ben Wedeman report:

A person looks out of the collapsed facade of an apartment on August 5.

At least 300,000 people have been displaced from their homes by Tuesday’s devastating explosion, Beirut’s governor Marwan Abboud said in an interview with Jordan’s state-owned channel Al Mamlaka.

Images and videos from the immediate aftermath of the blast show homes destroyed and covered with shattered glass.

At least 100 people were killed, and 4,000 more were wounded in the explosion, according to state media. That death toll is expected to rise as hundreds remain missing.

A damaged hospital in Beirut is seen on August 5.

Dr. Mike Ryan, director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Health Emergencies Programme has said it is assisting with the crisis in Beirut and stands in solidarity with the Lebanese people.

Ryan was speaking during a question and answer session streamed live on WHO social media platforms Wednesday.

“It’s a really very shocking event,” Ryan said.

The UAE Royal Air Wing donated the cost of transporting the kits to Lebanon, Ryan said.

The WHO has also placed emergency medical teams on standby, to be deployed if requested by the Lebanese government.

The aftermath of the explosion is pictured on August 5.

The head of Lebanon’s Customs Authority Badri Daher has said he repeatedly warned the country’s judiciary about dangerous substances stored at Beirut’s port.

Daher said he sent six memos to judiciary officials warning that the substances posed a danger to the public, according to Lebanon’s LBC channel.

“Daher revealed that he asked to re-export these materials, but this matter did not happen,” LBC reported.

LBC did not report the dates on which the memos were sent.

The explosion is thought to have been caused by 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored for six years without safety measures at the port, according to Lebanese President Michel Aoun.

Aoun has promised a transparent investigation into the causes of Tuesday’s explosion and vowed that those responsible will be held accountable and punished, amid mounting public anger over Tuesday’s disaster.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres holds a briefing in New York on March 10.

United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres has offered his “deepest condolences” to those affected by the explosion in Beirut.

“I wish all injured, including United Nations personnel, a speedy recovery,” he said on Twitter Wednesday.

“The [UN] remains committed to supporting Lebanon at this difficult time.”

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi also said the agency stood “in solidarity with people of Beirut and Lebanon in these tragic and testing times,” in a statement released Wednesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech in Paris on July 13.

French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Beirut on Thursday, to show “solidarity” with the Lebanese people in the aftermath of the disastrous explosion, according to the Lebanese Presidency’s official Twitter account.

The Elysée Palace said earlier on Wednesday that France was sending equipment and personnel to Lebanon as part of an emergency assistance package.

The explosion at Beirut’s port Tuesday damaged 90% of the hotels in the Lebanese capital, state news agency NNA reported Wednesday, citing Pierre Achkar president of Lebanon’s Hotel Federation for Tourism. The port area was severely damaged by the blast.

Beirut has attracted increasing numbers of tourists in recent years, with Lebanon drawing two million visitors in 2018.

An August 5 drone picture shows the aftermath of an explosion at the seaport of Beirut.

The EU has offered its full support to Lebanon and activated its Civil Protection Mechanism (CPM) in response to the crisis. The CPM is a tool which helps the bloc co-ordinate aid from its member states.

EU officials will urgently deploy “over 100 highly trained firefighters, with vehicles, dogs and equipment, specialised in search and rescue in urban contexts,” EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič said in a statement from published Wednesday.

The Netherlands, Greece and the Czech Republic will participate in the scheme and France, Poland and Germany have also offered to assist Lebanon.

“The EU has also activated its Copernicus Satellite mapping system to support the Lebanese authorities in assessing the extent of the damage,” Lenarčič added.

“We stand with Lebanon and its people and are ready to mobilise further help.”

France will send two military planes and 15 tons of equipment to Lebanon, as the international effort to assist the country intensifies.

The aid package includes two military planes, 55 personnel, 15 tons of equipment and a mobile clinic able to care for 500 wounded people, according to a statement from the Elysée Palace Wednesday.

The personnel and equipment is scheduled to arrive on Thursday afternoon.

In addition, 10 emergency health professionals will try to reach Beirut as soon as possible to assist the hospitals in the Lebanese capital.

The Elysée Palace said French members of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) had already stepped in to assist with the crisis on Tuesday evening.

France joins Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq, which have al pledged to send field hospitals to the Lebanese capital.

Six Turkish citizens were among the thousands wounded in Tuesday’s explosion, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a tweet posted Wednesday.

“Five are lightly wounded, and the one who has undergone an operation is getting better. We are in touch with the families,” Cavusoglu said.

Earlier, the Philippines Embassy in Beirut confirmed that two of its citizens died in the disaster, while eight more sustained injuries.

A man stands in a damaged apartment as he looks out at the scene of a massive explosion at the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon, on Wednesday, August 5.

Hundreds of people in Beirut have been reported missing by family members in the aftermath of Tuesday’s blast, raising fears that the death toll will far exceed the current estimate of at least 100, Health Minister Hamad Hassan told reporters outside a damaged hospital Wednesday.

Hassan said his ministry was working on an emergency plan to set up field hospitals being sent from Qatar, Iran, Kuwait, Oman and Jordan. The minister said six to eight field hospitals would be ready “soon.”

Four of the city’s hospitals were damaged by the explosion and are out of service, while those which remained open have been overwhelmed with casualties.

Correction: This post has been updated to correct a typo in Charbel Mallo’s name.

Pope Francis has called on people to pray for Lebanon in the aftermath of Tuesday’s deadly explosion.

“Yesterday in Beirut, near the port, there were massive explosions causing dozens of deaths, wounding thousands and causing serious destruction,” the Pope said in his weekly General Audience on Wednesday, from the library of the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City.

“Let us pray for the victims, for their families; and let us pray for Lebanon so that, through the dedication of all its social, political and religious elements, it might face this extremely tragic and painful moment and, with the help of the international community, overcome the grave crisis they are experiencing.”

Rescue workers and security officers work at the scene of an explosion causing damage to the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon, on Wednesday, August 5.

The Lebanese Red Cross said in a tweet on Wednesday that it is setting up enough temporary shelters with food, hygiene kits and basic needs to house up to 1,000 families for 72 hours.

Countless homes were destroyed after a blast tore through Beirut Tuesday evening.

At least one hundred people have died and more than 4,000 were wounded in Tuesday’s devastating explosion in the port of Beirut, state-run media reported citing the Red Cross.

Blood is in high demand, so ride-sharing app Careem is offering free rides for people traveling to and from donation centers and hospitals to donate blood. Careem is a subsidiary of Uber.

Lebanese soldiers search for survivors after a massive explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, on Wednesday, August 5.

Tuesday’s explosion in the Lebanese capital has resulted in an estimated $3 billion to $5 billion worth of damage, Beirut governor Marwan Abboud told reporters Wednesday.

Lebanon has allocated 100 billion Lebanese pounds – which according to the government rate is $66,335,000 – to deal with the effects of the Beirut blast, the Lebanese Presidency Twitter account said Wednesday.

While the official rate stands at $1 to 1,500 Lebanese pounds, the rate available to average citizens is much higher due to inflation and the months-long economic depression.

According to Beirut residents and a widely used app that tracks the black market exchange rate, $1 would buy about 8,200 Lebanese pounds for average citizens at the time of the announcement.

At least 100 people have died and more than 4,000 were wounded in Tuesday’s explosion in the port of Beirut, state-run media reported, citing the Red Cross.

Georges Kettaneh, the secretary-general of the Lebanese Red Cross, told Lebanon’s National News Agency Wednesday that the disaster is “unprecedented and very large.”

Destruction is seen after a massive explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, on Wednesday, August 5.

Jad Chaaban, an associate professor of economics at the American University of Beirut, said the situation on the ground in the Lebanese capital after the explosion is so dire that it is “beyond a national disaster,”

Chaaban said storing ammonium nitrate in a warehouse for years near a populated area amounted to “criminal” behavior.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, said that 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive material used in fertilizers and bombs, had been stored for six years at a port warehouse without safety measures, “endangering the safety of citizens,” according to a statement.

The Prime Minister has launched an investigation into the explosion, saying he “will not rest until we find those responsible for what happened, hold them accountable, and impose maximum punishment.”

More unrest coming: Chaaban told CNN he believes this incident could precipitate more protests in Lebanon.

Lebanon has been dealing with sporadic anti-government protests since late last year, when a popular uprising gripped the country. Many were angry with the country’s ruling political class, endemic corruption and its dire economic outlook – which has only gotten worse since Covid-19 hit. Prices for many goods have risen rapidly in recent weeks, some quadrupling, according to Chaaban.

“There is exasperation on the streets and there is a lot of anger,” he said.

Lebanese soldiers search for survivors after a massive explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, on Wednesday, August 5.

The Russian government is sending five planes of medical equipment and a team of doctors to set up a field hospital in Beirut to help the city in the aftermath of yesterday’s explosion, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations said Wednesday, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.

The ministry will also send a team trained for search and rescue operations and a mobile laboratory to identify cases of Covid-19.

Lebanon has recorded more than 5,000 cases of the virus, including 65 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Two Philippine nationals were killed in Tuesday’s explosion in Beirut, the Philippine Embassy in Beirut confirmed Wednesday.

Eight other Philippine citizens suffered injuries, the Embassy said in a statement. One is in critical but stable condition.

Two of the injured were part of a group of 13 Filipino seafarers whose ship was docked “some 400 meters away from blast zone,” the embassy said. The other 11 from that group are missing.

The embassy said it is working with local authorities to locate and ensure the safety of those who have not been accounted for.

A massive explosion rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Tuesday evening, leaving dozens dead and thousands injured.

The blast has been linked to a large supply of confiscated and potentially unsecured explosive material, stored in a warehouse at the city’s port, close to populated areas. As world leaders and international organizations step in to offer assistance, local officials are also launching an investigation into the blast.

As day breaks in Lebanon, authorities are scrambling to treat the wounded, search for survivors, and assess the full extent of the damage.

Here’s what we know so far:

A picture shows the scene of an explosion in Beirut on August 4, 2020. - A large explosion rocked the Lebanese capital Beirut on August 4, an AFP correspondent said. The blast, which rattled entire buildings and broke glass, was felt in several parts of the city. (Photo by Anwar AMRO / AFP) (Photo by ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article What we know about the Beirut blast

Leila Molana-Allen, a journalist with France 24 in Beirut, lives about a kilometer away from Beirut’s port.

She said the explosion caused a blinding white light and “ripped” the doors and windows out of her apartment.

Watch her interview with CNN:

A warehouse storing thousands of tons of unsecured highly explosive material has emerged as a possible source of the massive blast that ripped through the Lebanese capital on Tuesday, killing at least 80 people, injuring 4,000 and sending a shock wave across the city that damaged buildings and blew out windows up to 10 kilometers (6 miles) away.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hassan Diab said that 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate, which is typically used as an agricultural fertilizer, had been stored for six years at a port warehouse without safety measures, “endangering the safety of citizens,” according to a statement.

It’s still not exactly clear what led to the ignition that wiped out entire streets across the seaside capital.

Initial reports in state media blamed the blast on a major fire at a firecrackers warehouse near the port, that likely spread to nearby buildings. However, the Prime Minister’s account appeared to be backed by Lebanon’s General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim, who said a “highly explosive material” had been confiscated years earlier and stored in the warehouse, just minutes’ walk from Beirut’s shopping and nightlife districts.

As Beirut’s 4 million residents wake to the full horror and scale of the damage to their city, lives, and livelihoods, questions will be asked about why such large quantities of the dangerous chemical were allowed to be stored in the middle of the city without adequate safety measures, and who is responsible.

Read more:

EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content / A picture shows the scene of an explosion near the the port in the Lebanese capital Beirut on August 4, 2020. - Two huge explosion rocked the Lebanese capital Beirut, wounding dozens of people, shaking buildings and sending huge plumes of smoke billowing into the sky. Lebanese media carried images of people trapped under rubble, some bloodied, after the massive explosions, the cause of which was not immediately known. (Photo by STR / AFP) (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Improperly stored ammonium nitrate linked to Beirut explosion that injured thousands

An Indonesian national was “slightly injured” in Tuesday’s explosion in the Port of Beirut, the country’s Embassy in Lebanon said.

The embassy facility, which is located fewer than 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the port, was not damaged, said Basyiruddin Hidayat, an official with the Embassy of Indonesia in Beirut.

Hidayat said that according to the embassy’s records, there are 1,447 Indonesian citizens in Lebanon, all of whom appear to be safe.

At least 80 people have died and more than 4,000 were wounded after the massive explosion in central Beirut on Tuesday, Lebanon’s Health Minister Hamad Hassan said Wednesday morning. 

Hassan said four hospitals are out of service because of damage from the blast. 

He said the death toll will likely increase. 

Robert Baer, a former CIA operative with extensive experience in the Middle East, said videos of Tuesday’s blast showed that while ammonium nitrate may have been present in the warehouse, he does not believe it was responsible for the massive explosion that ensued.

Initial reports blamed the blast on a major fire at a warehouse for firecrackers near the port, according to Lebanese state news agency NNA.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, later said that 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive material used in fertilizers and bombs, had been stored for six years at a port warehouse without safety measures, “endangering the safety of citizens,” according to a statement.

Baer said he thinks that there were military munitions and propellants present. He speculated it could have been a weapons cache, but it’s unclear who it belongs to.

“You look at that orange ball (of fire), and it’s clearly, like I said, a military explosive.”

Baer noted that white powder seen in the videos of the incident before the major blast are likely an indicator that ammonium nitrate was present and burning. He also noticed a lot of munitions going off ahead of the larger explosion.

No evidence of an attack: Baer said while he believes the explosion does not look like solely ammonium nitrate, there’s still no evidence that this was an attack. The government has blamed poor management and vowed to get to the bottom of it.

Baer isn’t confident we’ll ever know the truth.

“I’ve worked in Lebanon for years, and no one is going to want to admit they kept military explosives at the port. It’s a stupid thing to do.”

Investigation launched: Prime Minister Diab’s account appeared to be backed by Lebanon’s General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim, who said a “highly explosive material” had been confiscated years earlier and stored in the warehouse, just minutes’ walk from Beirut’s shopping and nightlife districts.

The Prime Minister has launched an investigation into the explosion, saying he “will not rest until we find those responsible for what happened, hold them accountable, and impose maximum punishment.”

As yet, there is no clear evidence to suggest the source of the blast.

Smoke rises in the aftermath of a massive explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday, August 4.

Authorities are still investigating what exactly caused Tuesday’s deadly explosion in Beirut, but public statements from key Lebanese officials have begun to focus on ammonium nitrate that was kept in a warehouse near the port.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hassan Diab said in a statement that an estimated 2,750 metric tons of the substance had been stored there for the past six years. Lebanon’s general security chief said the “highly explosive material” had been confiscated several years ago.

Ammonium nitrate, a compound of ammonia and nitrogen, is best known for being used in fertilizers and – because it’s incredibly volatile – bombs.

The bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995, which killed 169 people and injured 467, was carried out using two US tons of ammonium nitrate.

One of the worst accidents in US history involving a form of ammonia occurred in April 1947, when a ship loaded with ammonium nitrate caught fire while docked in Texas City.

The blaze caused an explosion and additional fires that killed almost 400 people and damaged more than 1,000 buildings, according to the website of the Texas Historical Association. The explosion was triggered by 2,300 US tons of ammonium nitrate, according to US Homeland Security.

Serge Mahdessian and his wife Deanna Torus.

Hairdresser Serge Mahdessian was working roughly 8,500 miles away from his wife, who was asleep in Melbourne, Australia when the explosion destroyed his salon in the Ashrafieh district of Beirut. 

Phone footage taken by Mahdessian shows crumpled cars lining a street strewn with broken glass and rubble.

Awoken in the night: The call from his wife, Deanna Torus, came quickly – she’d been woken in the middle of the night with news of the massive blast just a short distance north of where her husband was at work.

Separated for years: The young couple married last year after five and a half years together, but are used to being separated. Serge’s visa application, a process that has cost about $7,000 to date, has been rejected multiple times.

Covid-19 travel bans have piled on the misery.

Australia has a large community of Lebanese expatriates and people of Lebanese descent. The 2016 census determined that there are around 75,000 Australians with Lebanese heritage, mostly living in Melbourne and Sydney. The Australian government believes that there were 20,000 Australians in Lebanon before expats returned from around the world due to Covid-19.

The nightmare continues for Mahdessian, who says that the collapsed Lebanese economy, Covid-19 and an accident of this magnitude have made Beirut “unsafe.”

Mahdessian said his aunt, a nurse, was receiving treatment for a broken shoulder and a head injury after a wall fell on her while working a shift in an Ashrafieh hospital. 

He said they had to take her to another hospital because “no one was accepting people.”

“The emergency room looked like a war had begun, the children – their hands, their legs, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” he said.

Damaged buildings are seen after the explosion at the port of Beirut, Lebanon, August 4.

More countries in Latin America are sending their condolences to the Beirut explosion victims and relatives. 

The region is home to a large diaspora of Lebanese expatriates and people of Lebanese descent.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on his official Twitter account Tuesday evening that he is “deeply saddened by the scenes of the explosion in Beirut. Brazil is home to the largest community of Lebanese in the world and, therefore, we feel this tragedy as if it were in our territory. I express my solidarity with the families of the fatal victims and the wounded.”

Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Tuesday evening on his official Twitter account: “Sad and unfortunate the situation in Beirut, Lebanon. Our condolences to the families of the victims and to the entire sister nation.”

Panama’s Foreign Ministry tweeted: “The National Government expresses its deep dismay at the terrible explosion that occurred in Beirut, while expressing its solidarity with the Republic and the People of Lebanon and expressing its condolences to the families of the deceased and injured.”

And Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry said: “Ecuador stands in solidarity with the Republic of Lebanon in light of the explosions registered in its capital, Beirut. @CancilleriaEc expresses its condolences to the families of the deceased.” The ministry said 150 Ecuadorians reside in Lebanon and “so far there are no victims.” 

Smoke rises from an explosion site at the port of Beirut, Lebanon, on August 4.

Tony May, a former explosives investigator for the US Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, told CNN that video of the blast in Beirut offers important clues to what happened.

No yellow smoke: May said when he was in Baghdad, the telltale sign of an ammonium nitrate explosive was a yellow smoke cloud. The pink or red cloud that was seen, he said, was “not consistent with ammonium nitrate.”

However, May said that doesn’t necessarily mean ammonium nitrate wasn’t involved. It could just mean there were “other items as well,” he said.

White flashes: The white flashes seen in different parts of the video may indicate that smaller explosions were occurring in the lead-up to the large shockwave, May said.

It’s an earthquake, I thought, as the CNN bureau in central Beirut shook Tuesday with a violence I’d never felt before. I crouched down on the floor, waiting for more tremors.

A split second later, I heard glass shatter and the crunch of metal. Peering through the window, I saw a cloud of yellow dust coming toward me, the street strewn with rubble and broken glass. People were running around and shouting, trying to understand what had happened.

I stumbled around the rest of the bureau. A window frame had been torn from the wall. The studio was a jumble of equipment, cables were scattered all over, but the tripod with its camera was still in place on the floor.

The bureau’s glass entrance, with its big, red CNN logo, lay shattered in the corridor.

A few minutes later, a doorman named Mustafa, a lanky, normally good-spirited chap, came running in. “Are you ok?” he shouted. “Is everyone fine?”

“I’m fine,” I responded. Nothing had happened to me.

Read more about Wedeman’s experience here:

Related article A blast like no other: Beirut explosion felt like an earthquake

A Japanese citizen suffered a minor injury during the explosion in Beirut Tuesday, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a news conference on Wednesday.

Suga offered his condolences to the victims of the blast and said that the injured individual is believed to be the only Japanese casualty.

In South Korea: The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it has not received any reports of South Korean victims.

The ministry said the South Korean Embassy in Beirut, which is about 10 km (6 miles) from the blast site, was not seriously affected by the explosion. Only two glass window panes from the fourth floor of the building were damaged.

A general view of destruction along a street in the center of Lebanon's capital Beirut, following a massive explosion at the nearby port of Beirut on August 4.

Lebanese officials raised concerns with US diplomats about using the word “attack” to describe the blast in Beirut Tuesday after President Donald Trump did so at a news conference, two US State Department officials said. 

Trump offered sympathy and assistance to the people of Lebanon Tuesday after the explosions, which left dozens dead and thousands injured, referring to the incident as a “terrible attack.” 

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday that the government of Lebanon is investigating the cause of the explosion and the US looks forward to that outcome. 

What we know so far: Initial reports blamed the explosion on a major fire at a warehouse for firecrackers near the port, according to Lebanese state news agency NNA.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, later said that 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive material used in fertilizers and bombs, had been stored for six years at a port warehouse without safety measures, “endangering the safety of citizens,” according to a statement.

The Prime Minister called the storage of the material “unacceptable” and called for an investigation into the cause of the blast, with the results released within five days, the statement said.

Lebanese officials have not called the explosion an attack.

Qatar, Iraq and Kuwait plan to send medical assistance to Lebanon in the aftermath of the deadly explosion, according to state news agencies in the Middle East.

Lebanon’s NNA news agency reported that Qatar will send supplies to outfit two 500-bed field hospitals on Wednesday. NNA also reported that Iraq will send a field hospital and oil.

The Emir of Qatar, Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, said on Twitter that he spoke on the phone with Lebanese President Michel Aoun “to express Qatar’s standing with the brothers in Lebanon and its willingness to provide immediate support following the explosion.”

Kuwait’s Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah has also directed authorities in the country to send urgent medical assistance to Lebanon, according to a statement by his court reported by Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).

The blast that rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut hit the country at an already harrowing time.

Lebanon has been dealing with sporadic anti-government protests since late last year, when a popular uprising gripped the country. Many were angry with the country’s ruling political class and endemic corruption. In October, protests erupted against a swath of new austerity measures – including a proposed a tax on WhatsApp calls.

The ensuing unrest forced former Prime Minister Saad Hariri to resign, but did not solve the underlying issues.

Lebanon’s economy, like many others around the world, was brought to a screeching halt by a government-imposed lockdown designed to stop the spread of Covid-19. Though Lebanon has only confirmed 5,062 cases of Covid-19 and 65 virus related deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, pandemic-related restrictions have further exacerbated the country’s deep and long-running financial crisis.

Lebanon defaulted on its debt for the first time, causing food prices to soar and the Lebanese lira to plummet.

Prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, the World Bank projected that 45% of people in Lebanon would be below the poverty line in 2020. Now, the government believes that up to 75% of people are in need of aid, Social Affairs Minister Ramzi Musharrafieh told CNN.

“We are hungry,” came the resounding cries from angry protesters as they faced off with security forces during demonstrations that swept through Lebanon’s major cities this spring.

Read more about the crisis in Tripoli, one of Lebanon’s northern cities, in May:

Anti-government protesters clash with the Lebanese army in Tripoli on Tuesday during renewed demonstrations triggered by an economic crisis.

Related article How a Lebanese city was pushed over the edge by coronavirus

A view of destruction in the Gemmayzeh area in the center of Lebanon's capital Beirut, following a massive explosion on August 4.

A large explosion rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Tuesday at 6:07 p.m. after a major fire broke out near the city’s port, killing at least 78 people and injuring 4,000.

What caused the blast: Initially, there were conflicting reports on what caused the explosion. It was earlier blamed on a major fire at a warehouse for firecrackers near the port.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hassan Diab later said in a statement that an estimated 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, an explosive, had been stored at a warehouse for the past six years. Lebanon’s general security chief said the substance had been confiscated years ago.

What’s it like on the ground: In a word, apocalyptic. The blast tore through the city and wreaked havoc on nearly all of Beirut’s quarters. The shockwave from the explosion was visible in footage of the incident.

Buildings as far away as 10 km (6 miles) from the site of the explosion were damaged. Streets were filled with shattered glass.

One witness told CNN the port was “totally destroyed.”

Emergency wards were inundated with the injured, while the Lebanese Red Cross implored the public on Twitter for blood donations to help the wounded. One of Beirut’s major hospitals, Hotel Dieu, received around 400 injured patients, an employee told CNN.

What’s the government doing: Lebanese President Michel Aoun ordered military patrols in the city and vowed to investigate. Prime Minister Diab said the storage of ammonium nitrate at a warehouse was “unacceptable” and would be investigated.

“I will not rest until we find those responsible for what happened, hold them accountable, and impose maximum punishment,” he said.

Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab said that an estimated 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate had been stored at a warehouse in Beirut for six years, according to a statement published on the Republic of Lebanon Presidency website. 

Ammonium nitrate is a key ingredient in both fertilizer and certain types of explosives. The substance has been used in terror attacks, including the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995.

It’s still unclear what exactly caused the Tuesday explosion in Beirut that killed nearly 80 people. The blast was earlier blamed on a fire that broke out.

Lebanon’s General Security Chief Abbas Ibrahim said earlier “highly explosive material” that had been confiscated years ago was being stored in the warehouse, which is just minutes’ walk from popular shopping and nightlife districts. 

Prime Minister Diab said in the statement it was “unacceptable” that so much explosive material was stored in a warehouse “without taking preventive measures while endangering the safety of citizens.”

Diab gave his condolences and wished for the speedy recovery of the wounded. He called for the formation of an investigation committee into the cause of the blast, which should release its results within a maximum of five days, added the statement. 

President Trump speaks during a press briefing at the White House on Tuesday.

Three US Defense Department officials tell CNN that as of Tuesday night there is no indication they have seen that the massive explosions that rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Tuesday was an attack, as President Trump indicated during a question and answer session with reporters at the White House.  

The officials, who declined to be identified so they could speak freely, said they don’t know what the President is talking about.  

One official pointed out that if there were indications anyone in the region pulled something off of this scale, it would trigger automatic increases in force protection for US troops and assets in the region if for no other reason than worry about retribution attacks. 

The official notes that none of that is happening so far at least.   

Earlier Tuesday, Trump offered sympathy and assistance to the people of Lebanon after the explosions, which left dozens dead and thousands injured, referring to the incident as a “terrible attack.” 

“Let me begin by sending America’s deepest sympathies to the people of Lebanon, where reports indicate that many, many people were killed, hundreds more were very badly wounded in a large explosion in Beirut,” Trump said at a press briefing Tuesday evening. “Our prayers go out to all the victims and their families. The United States ready to assist Lebanon.”

Trump said the country has a “very good relationship with the people of Lebanon and we will be there to help.”

“Looks like a terrible attack,” Trump said, appearing to look up from notes on his podium.

Asked if he was confident if the explosion was an attack and not an accident, the President said it “seems like” it was, based on what US military officials have told him.  

“It would seem like it based on the explosion,” Trump said. “I’ve met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel that it was not a – some kind of manufacturing explosion type of event. This was a – seems to be according to them, they would know better than I would, but they seem to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind.”

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. The director of the general security directorate later said the blast was caused by confiscated “high explosive materials,” but did not provide further details.

Lebanese officials have not called the explosion an attack.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison expressed “deep regret” at the death of an Australian citizen who died in the “horrific blast” in Beirut. 

Morrison appeared CNN affiliate Channel 7 Sunrise program on Wednesday and said that he received briefings about the blast but received no information on the cause. 

All of the staff from the Australian Embassy in Beirut are accounted for and have sustained minor injuries like cuts and scratches, Morrison said on Channel 9’s Today Show on Wednesday morning local. The building itself has been “impacted significantly,” he said.

Morrison said that the image of the blast is “absolutely devastating” and acknowledged that there could be 20,000 Australians present at any one time in Beirut. He went on to say there are hundreds of thousands of Australians who have Lebanese descent.  

Morrison said it was not known how many Australians with Lebanese descent were in country as some may have returned due to the coronavirus outbreak. 

People stand on a pile of rubble in Beirut on August 4.

The death toll from a massive explosion in the capital Beirut on Tuesday had reached 78, Lebanon’s health minister has told the Reuters news agency.

Health Minister Hamad Hassan told Reuters that nearly 4,000 people have also been injured.

The minister earlier said in televised remarks that more than 70 people had been killed.

President Trump offered sympathy and assistance to the people of Lebanon after an explosion that left dozens dead and thousands injured on Tuesday, referring to the incident as a “terrible attack.” Lebanese officials have not called the explosion an attack.

Trump said the country has a “very good relationship with the people of Lebanon and we will be there to help.” 

“Looks like a terrible attack,” Trump said, appearing to look up from notes on his podium.

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. The director of the general security directorate later said the blast was caused by confiscated “high explosive materials,” but did not provide further details.

Asked if he was confident if the explosion was an attack and not an accident, the President said it “seems like” it was, based on what US military officials have told him. 

“It would seem like it based on the explosion,” Trump said. “I’ve met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel that it was not a – some kind of manufacturing explosion type of event. This was a – seems to be according to them, they would know better than I would, but they seem to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind.”

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said at least one Australian has been killed in the Beirut blast and the Australian Embassy building has been “significantly compromised.”

The prime minister was speaking Wednesday local time on CNN affiliate Channel 7, on the station’s morning program.

Morrison also took to Twitter to express his support to the people of Lebanon. 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel at an EU summit in Brussels in July.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her government is “devastated by the reports and images” coming out of Lebanon, according to her spokesperson Ulrike Demmer.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison also tweeted his support to the people of Lebanon. 

“Terrible scenes out of Beirut after a major explosion. Our hearts go out to those caught up in this tragedy and to our Australian Lebanese community waiting to hear from their loved ones. Australia stands ready to provide our support, including to any Australians affected,” the prime minister said.

Data collected by the United States Geological Survey shows that the massive explosion in Beirut was so powerful, it created seismic waves equivalent of a magnitude 3.3 earthquake.

However, the magnitude 3.3 equivalent isn’t, “directly comparable to an earthquake of similar size.”

That’s because surface type blasts, like the Beirut explosion, don’t produce as large a magnitude as an earthquake of similar energy would according to Don Blakeman, a geophysicist at the National Earthquake Information Center. Blakeman said most of the energy goes into the air and buildings.

“Not enough of the energy is transmitted into the rocks in the ground,” he said.

Meaning, if the explosion had occurred below the surface of the earth, the magnitude would have registered even higher.

Ambulances drive past the site of the explosion.

The death toll in the massive blast that shook Beirut has reached 73, the Lebanese national broadcaster TeleLiban reported citing Health Minister Hamad Hassan.

The minister said earlier today that at least 2,750 had been injured in the explosion.

People ride past a car destroyed after a building wall collapsed on August 4.

The US Embassy in Beirut is urging those in the area of the explosion to “stay indoors and wear masks if available” due to reports of toxic gases released from the blast.

An embassy security alert went out following the explosion.

“There are reports of toxic gases released in the explosion so all in the area should stay indoors and wear masks if available,” the embassy warned.

The embassy also urged US citizens in the affected areas to “contact their loved ones directly and/or update their status on social media.”

Israel is offering humanitarian medical assistance to Lebanon following the massive blast in Beirut Tuesday afternoon, even though the two countries have no diplomatic relations.

“Under the direction of Minister of Defense, Benny Gantz, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gabi Ashkenazi, Israel approached Lebanon through international defense and diplomatic channels to offer the Lebanese government medical humanitarian aid,” a statement read.

Following the announcement, Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin tweeted, “We share the pain of the Lebanese people and sincerely reach out to offer our aid at this difficult time.”

Lebanon is one of a small number of countries Israel regards as an enemy state, and there have been no diplomatic relations since a ceasefire signed between the two countries in 1949.

As recently as last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was warning that Lebanon, along with Hezbollah, bore “full responsibility” for what the Israeli army described as an infiltration by a Hezbollah cell into Israeli territory.

A view of a damaged street and buildings caused by a massive explosion in Beirut's port.

The aid agency Save the Children warned of children unaccounted for after a deadly explosion in Beirut that “wiped out entire streets,” according to a statement from the organization.

“We are shocked and devastated by the explosion today. The death toll may not be known for several days but what we do know is that in a disaster like this, children may be hurt, shocked, and separated from their parents,” said Jad Sakr, the organization’s director in Lebanon.

“It is vital that children and their families get access to the services they urgently need, including medical care and physical and emotional protection,” Sakr added.

The organization also reported that hospitals are “completely overwhelmed” and “unable to treat further casualties as hundreds of beds immediately filled up following the blast.” The agency described the explosion “as the biggest explosion in Lebanon’s recent history.”

Save the Children’s offices in Beirut were also badly damaged by the explosion.

Photos taken from inside the Grand Serail, the government palace and the headquarters of Lebanon’s prime minister, showed some damage inside the building.

The building is about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) from the site of the explosion.

The blast also dealt considerable damage to the Baabda Palace, the official residence of the Lebanese president, according to Lebanese state media.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) says some of its naval peacekeepers were injured — some seriously — by the explosion that rocked Beirut on Tuesday. 

A maritime task force ship was also damaged by the explosion. 

“We are with the people and the Government of Lebanon during this difficult time and stand ready to help and provide any assistance and support,” the UNIFIL head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Stefano Del Col said.

Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab said that Tuesday’s explosion in the Lebanese capital “will not pass without accountability” and “those responsible will pay for what happened.”

He said that an investigation into the explosion will include “revelations that will be announced about this dangerous warehouse which has been present since 2014,” without providing any additional details.

Describing the explosion as a “catastrophe,” he said in a televised statement that the priority now was to recover the dead and treat the injured. 

He concluded by making “an emergency call to all those countries who love this country to stand by us and to help us heal our deep wounds.”

Hani Abughazaleh and friends had been fishing off the coast of Beirut, Lebanon.  

“We heard a couple of small explosions and saw white smoke rising above,” he told CNN.  

CNN’s producer in Beirut Ghazi Balkiz said the initial explosion happened at 6:07 p.m. local time.

Abughazaleh began taking a video at 6:08 p.m. local time and seven seconds later, the massive red explosion cloud appears. The sudden and intense explosion is so powerful a massive, visible shockwave forms in the sky.

Watch the moment:

He said when the shockwave hit the group, it almost knocked them off the boat.

“We saw a red plume rising and people panicked wondering if it’s some sort of lethal gas,” he said.

“Oh my God,” someone in the video exclaims.

Two more videos taken by Abughazaleh shows the red cloud billowing above Beirut.  

As the boat began to make its way back to the shore along the coast, the red cloud appears to have dispersed and a red haze appears in the air.

“I drove home to asses the damage in my house and saw hundreds of injured people,” he said.

The death toll in the Beirut blast has doubled to at least 50 killed, with many more feared dead, Health Minister Hamad Hassan told reporters outside a hospital Tuesday.

At least 2,750 people were injured in the massive explosion that shook the capital, Hassan said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said “rescue and aid” were on the way to Lebanon following a massive explosion in Beirut on Tuesday. 

“France stands by Lebanon’s sides. Always. French rescue and aid is on its way,” he added.

Macron also talked on the phone with his Lebanese counterpart, Michel Aoun, following the incident, the Elysée told CNN.

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said in a tweet that the scale of the losses after an explosion rocked the capital Beirut “was too great to be described” with the “biggest loss is the loss of dozens of dead and injured.” 

Lebanon’s health minister told reporters earlier that at least 25 people have been killed and more than 2,500 injured in Tuesday’s massive blast at Beirut port.

At least 25 people have been killed and more than 2,500 injured in Tuesday’s massive blast at Beirut port, Health Minister Hamad Hassan told reporters.

The cause of the explosion remains unclear.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post misstated the number of injuries in the headline. The health minister said more than 2,500 people were injured.

The secretary-general of the Kataeb political party, Nazar Najarian, was killed in the powerful explosion on Tuesday, according to Lebanon state-run NNA news. 

Najarian was in his office when the explosion happened. He died after being critically injured.

Valarie Fakhoury, a British grandmother with her Lebanese daughter and granddaughter, stand outside the emergency ward of a hospital in central Beirut.

Hundreds of people have been hospitalized across the Lebanese capital and many are feared dead in the aftermath of a massive blast that rocked Beirut, shattering glass and damaging buildings miles from the site.

Hospital emergency rooms are being inundated by the injured, with the emergency section of one main hospital – the American University of Beirut Medical Center – unable to receive more patients, partly due to blast damage, according to state media.

The Lebanese Red Cross, health officials and politicians have called on people to donate blood to help the injured in hospital.

Images from the city show cars, ambulances and military vehicles packed with the walking wounded and others who appeared not to be moving.

While officials have yet to announce an official number of casualties, multiple members of the emergency services and politicians speaking to local media have expressed worries that there could be a high death toll.

The World Health Organization’s regional office for the Eastern Mediterranean is working with partners, including Lebanon’s Public Health Ministry, to respond to “urgent needs” following the “massive explosion” that rocked Beirut on Tuesday. 

The organization said it is working with the country’s health ministry “to make sure trauma supplies are available.”

The President of the European Council Charles Michel has tweeted his support for the people of Lebanon and the families of the victims of the blast that rocked Beirut on Tuesday. 

“My thoughts are with the people of #Lebanon and with the families of the victims of the tragic #BeirutBlast,” Michel wrote. “The EU stands ready to provide assistance and support.”

“Stay strong,” Michel also wrote. 

Here’s the tweet:

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi has denied any suggestions that Israel might have been responsible for the explosion in Beirut. 

Speaking a few moments ago on Channel 12 News in Israel, he said he saw “no reason not to believe the reports from Beirut that this was an accident.” 

CNN has also spoken to two government officials who both reiterated Israel’s lack of involvement.

“Israel had nothing to do with the incident,” one of the officials said.

A massive explosion shook Lebanon’s capital Beirut on Tuesday evening.

The blast appears to have been centered on the city’s port area. The cause of the explosion is still unclear.

The explosion that rocked Beirut on Tuesday dealt considerable damage to the Baabda Palace, the official residence of the Lebanese president, according to Lebanese state media.

The blast shattered the windows of hallways, entrances and salons, Lebanese state news agency NNA reported on Tuesday. “Doors and windows in several of the palace’ wings were dislocated,” it reported.

“No one was hurt,” NNA also reported.

Around 400 injured people have been taken to the emergency unit of the Hotel Dieu hospital after a blast rocked Beirut on Tuesday, a registered nurse on duty at the facility told CNN. 

The severity of the injuries was not immediately clear.

The explosion that rocked Beirut on Tuesday afternoon was felt in the neighboring island of Cyprus, around 240 kilometers away – or about 150 miles — from Lebanon, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC).

Several social media users also wrote on Twitter they felt the explosion in their homes in Cyprus.  

“The explosion was felt in Limassol, Cyprus, our windows shaked (sic),” Elias Mavrokefalos tweeted. “I checked to see if we were being bombed,” another Limassol resident tweeted. Another person said she also heard the explosion and felt a “light tremor” in the city of Nicosia. 

Cyprus’ Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides also tweeted that he’s in “communication with the Lebanese government and have informed of Cyprus’ immediate readiness to assist Lebanon.”

The Lebanese Red Cross has made an “urgent call” for blood donations from all blood types to help treat those injured in the blast in the port of Beirut today, the organization said on Twitter.

Read the tweet:

A massive explosion ripped through the Lebanese capital Beirut on Tuesday, injuring many people and blowing out windows in buildings across the city.

If you’re just reading in now, here’s what we know about the blast so far:

Eyewitness Bachar Ghattas described dire scenes of chaos in the Lebanese capital after Tuesday’s blast, calling it “like an apocalypse.”

“You can see injured people all over the streets in Beirut, glass all over the place, cars are damaged, it is like an apocalypse,” he said in a phone call with CNN’s Becky Anderson.

“Beirut port is totally destroyed,” he added about the site of the blast.”We don’t have a port.”

The Lebanese Red Cross is diverting ambulances from North Lebanon, Bekaa and South Lebanon to Beirut in order to provide support with the rescue and evacuation of patients, it said in a tweet on Tuesday. 

The White House is monitoring the explosion in Beirut, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said.

“That was breaking as I came out here and safe to say we’re monitoring the situation,” McEnany said. 

Lebanese authorities said there were a large number of injuries following an explosion near Beirut port earlier Tuesday.  

In an earlier statement, the US State Department said it is also “closely following reports of an explosion in Beirut” and “working closely with local authorities to determine if any U.S. citizens were affected.”

Lebanese President Michel Aoun has directed all the armed forces to deal with the repercussions of the blast in Beirut and to conduct patrols in impacted areas and in the suburbs to ensure security, state-run National News Agency said.

What we know: Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab declared Wednesday a day of national mourning in the aftermath of the massive explosion in the Beirut port area, the national broadcaster TeleLiban reported.

Smoke rises after an explosion in Beirut, Lebanon August 4, 2020, in this picture obtained from a social media video.

The US State Department is “closely following reports of an explosion in Beirut” and “working closely with local authorities to determine if any U.S. citizens were affected.”

The Department urge US citizens to “avoid the affected area” and “shelter in place and follow the directions of local authorities.”

“We have no information about the cause of the explosion and would refer you to the Government of Lebanon for further information,” the department said.

Senior Correspondent Ben Wedeman reports fro CNN's damaged Beirut bureau on Tuesday.

Standing in the wreckage of CNN’s Beirut bureau, senior correspondent Ben Wedeman surveyed the damage from a massive blast.

He said the explosion “blew out windows in this room, in the room next to us, our front glass doors,” as well as the windows of neighbors in the building.

Wedeman said he had spoken to eyewitnesses living even closer to the port, where the explosion took place, who described a “scene of total destruction.”

Wedeman said he had been through wars in Lebanon, but had never felt anything “along the lines of this explosion,” he said.

The cause of the blast remains unclear.

Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab has declared Wednesday a day of national mourning in the aftermath of Tuesday’s massive explosion in the Beirut port area, the national broadcaster TeleLiban reported.

Lebanese authorities said earlier that the explosion has left a large number of people injured, CNN senior correspondent Ben Wedeman reported.

The explosion caused massive damage to the surrounding area and sent a huge cloud of red smoke over the city.

WATCH:

Lebanese security officers arrive at the scene of an explosion that hit the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, August 4.

At least 10 firefighters working for Beirut’s municipality are missing after the explosion that rocked Beirut Tuesday, the city’s governor Marwan Abboud said, adding that the scene reminded him of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Asked by a reporter if a fire caused the explosion, he said, “We don’t know. There was a fire, the [firefighters] came to put it out, then the explosion happened and they went missing. We are looking for them.”

“It resembles to what happened in Japan, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That’s what [it] reminds me of. In my life, I haven’t seen destruction on this scale,” he said.

Major General Abbas Ibrahim, of Lebanon’s General Security Directorate, said the massive blast that shook Beirut’s port area on Tuesday was caused by confiscated “high explosive materials.”

It would be “naive to describe such an explosion as due to fireworks,” Ibrahim told Lebanese TV.

A CNN producer in Beirut has described the “chaotic scene,” in the emergency room of one Beirut’s hospitals, with doctors conducting triage as they try to treat dozens of people injured in Tuesday’s explosion.

“Some people had broken limbs, some showered with glass,” Ghazi Balkiz said. 

“I walked in, I saw a few people lying on the floor – doctors trying to put IVs into them. A couple of people were passed out,” he added. 

Footage shared on social media captured the explosion as it rocked Beirut.

One video, filmed from a nearby boat, appears to show a white pall of smoke rising over the city. Seconds later, a red plume of smoke can be seen shooting into the sky, followed by a massive explosion.

The second video, shared on Instagram, shows the explosion as seen from a rooftop in the capital.

Lebanon’s Health Minister Hamad Hassan has ordered all hospitals in the area to prepare to receive those injured in a major blast in Beirut, the state-run National News Agency reports.

A wounded man walks near the scene of an explosion.

Lebanese authorities say an explosion near Beirut’s port on Tuesday evening has left a large number of people injured, CNN’s Senior Correspondent Ben Wedeman reports.

The explosion caused massive damage to the surrounding area and sent a huge cloud of red smoke over the city.

Lebanon’s state-run NNA news agency reports that a major fire broke out near Beirut port and firefighting teams have rushed to the scene to put out the fire.

The Lebanese Red Cross is calling on its medics to mobilize immediately, and report to their respective centers, to help deal with the massive explosion that rocked Beirut port on Tuesday evening, it said on Twitter. 

Red Cross teams are trying to reach the site of the blast, it added. 

Smoke rises in Beirut.

A red cloud hung over Beirut in the wake of the blast, as firefighting teams rushed to the scene to try to put out the fire.

Homes up to 10 kilometers (6 miles) away were damaged, according to witnesses, and footage from local media showed wrecked cars, apparently flipped over by the force of the blast.

One Beirut resident who was several kilometers away from the site of the explosion said her windows had been shattered by the explosion. “What I felt was that it was an earthquake,” Rania Masri told CNN.

The huge explosion in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, blew out the windows of the CNN bureau, according to CNN’s correspondent Ben Wedeman, who said he saw a cloud of red smoke drift over the city after the blast.

Wedeman said he had “never felt anything like it … [I’ve] been around the block and seen pretty large explosions … and this was bigger,” he told CNN’s Becky Anderson, adding that he only heard and felt one explosion.

“As far as I can tell there was just one absolutely massive explosion which caused all this damage in the Lebanese capital.”

Lebanon’s state-run NNA news reports that a major fire broke out in a warehouse used for storing firecrackers, near Beirut’s port, and strong explosions were heard shortly afterwards.

Wedeman said the cause of the blast was “still not clear – if it was fireworks, as some news sources are saying – they are some damn big fireworks.”

Watch CNN’s Ben Wedeman from the scene:

An explosion is seen in Beirut, Lebanon, on August 4.

A large explosion rocked the Lebanese capital Beirut on Tuesday, damaging buildings and offices around the city. 

Lebanon’s state-run NNA news reports that a major fire broke out in a warehouse used for storing firecrackers, near Beirut’s port, and strong explosions were heard shortly afterwards.

Firefighting teams have rushed to the scene and are working to put out the fire.