Massive Beirut blast kills more than 70, injures thousands!

• 6:06 p.m. More than 70 people dead, over 3,000 injured
• 5:01 p.m. France, Canada, U.S., Britain and other countries offer support and aid
• 2:30 p.m. State-run media said one blast may have come from a fire at a fireworks warehouse

BEIRUT - A massive explosion rocked Beirut on Tuesday, flattening much of the city's port, damaging buildings across the capital and sending a giant mushroom cloud into the sky. More than 70 people were killed and 3,000 injured, with bodies buried in the rubble, officials said.

Hours after the blast, ambulances were still carrying away the wounded and officials said Beirut’s hospitals were full. Army helicopters helped battle fires raging at the port.

Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi told a local TV station that it appeared the blast was caused by the detonation of more than 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate that had been stored in a warehouse at the dock ever since it was confiscated from a cargo ship in 2014. Witnesses reported seeing an orange cloud like that which appears when toxic nitrogen dioxide gas is released after an explosion involving nitrates.

What caused the detonation was not immediately clear. Videos showed what appeared to be a fire erupting nearby just before, and local TV stations reported that a fireworks warehouse was involved. The fire appeared to spread to a nearby building, triggering the more massive explosion, sending up a mushroom cloud and generating a shock wave.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab said in a televised statement, “Facts on this dangerous depot, which has existed since 2014 or the past six years, will be announced.”

“What happened today will not come to pass without accountability,” Diab said. “Those responsible will pay a price for this catastrophe.” he said. “This is a promise to the martyrs and wounded people. This is a national commitment.”

Diab announced that Wednesday would be a national day of mourning. The Lebanese presidency said on Twitter that President Michel Aoun had instructed the military to aid in the response and called an emergency meeting of the Supreme Defense Council on Tuesday evening, which declared Beirut a disaster area.

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

The blast struck with the force of a 3.5 magnitude earthquake, according to Germany’s geosciences centre GFZ, and it was heard and felt as far away as Cyprus more than 200 kilometres (180 miles) across the Mediterranean.

“It was a real horror show. I haven’t seen anything like that since the days of the (civil) war,” said Marwan Ramadan, who was about 500 metres (yards) from the port and was knocked off his feet by the force of the explosion.


Health Minister Hassan Hamad said the preliminary toll was more than 70 dead and 3,000 wounded. Emergency teams streamed in from across Lebanon to help, and the injured had to be taken to hospitals outside the capital. Hamad added that hospitals were barely coping and offers of aid were pouring in from Arab states and friends of Lebanon.

President Donald Trump said the U.S. “stands ready to assist Lebanon," and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo extended his “deepest condolences.”

“Our team in Beirut has reported to me the extensive damage to a city and a people that I hold dear, an additional challenge in a time of already deep crisis,” Pompeo said in a written statement.

Canada's Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne tweeted out that Canada was "ready to assist however we can." Israel offered emergency assistance through international intermediaries, its Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Iran, Hezbollah’s patron, also said it was ready to help. “Stay strong, Lebanon,” its foreign minister, Javad Zarif, said in a tweet.


French President Emmanuel Macron said in a tweet on Tuesday that France is in the process of sending aid.

"France is side by side with Lebanon. Always," Macron tweeted. "French aid and resources are currently on their way."

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also offered any support his country could offer for Beirut.

"The pictures and videos from Beirut tonight are shocking," Johnson wrote on Twitter. "All of my thoughts and prayers are with those caught up in this terrible incident.

"The UK is ready to provide support in any way we can, including to those British nationals affected."

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 of them under debris.

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

Charbel Haj, who works at the port, said it started as small explosions like firecrackers. Then, he said, he was thrown off his feet by the huge blast. His clothes were torn.

Miles from the port, building facades were shredded, balconies were knocked down and windows shattered. Streets were covered with glass and bricks and lined with wrecked cars. Motorcyclists picked their way through traffic, carrying the injured.

Outside one hospital, Omar Kinno sat on the pavement, holding back tears. Kinno, a Syrian, said one of his sisters was killed when the blast rocked their apartment near the port, and another sister’s neck was broken. His injured mother and father were taken to a hospital but he didn’t know which, and he was making calls trying to track them down.

“I have no idea what happened to my parents. I am totally lost,” he said.

One woman covered in blood from the waist up walked down a trashed street while talking furiously on her phone. On another street, a woman with a bloodied face looked distraught, staggering through traffic with two friends at her side.

“This country is cursed,” a young man passing by muttered.

The blast came at a time when Lebanon’s economy is facing collapse, hit both by a financial crisis and coronavirus restrictions. Many have lost jobs, while the worth of their savings has evaporated as the currency has plunged in value against the dollar. The result has thrown many into poverty.

It also occurred amid rising tensions between Israel and the militant Hezbollah group along Lebanon’s southern border.

The explosion was reminiscent of massive blasts during Lebanon’s civil war and took place only three days before a U.N.-backed tribunal was set to give its verdict in the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in a truck bombing more than 15 years ago. That explosion, with a ton of explosives, was felt miles away, just like Tuesday’s explosion.

Several of Beirut’s hospitals were damaged in the blast. Roum Hospital put out a call for people to bring it spare generators to keep its electricity going as it evacuated patients because of heavy damage.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, UNIFIL, said one of its ships in the port was damaged and a number of its peacekeepers were injured, some seriously.

Outside the St. George University Hospital in Beirut’s Achrafieh neighbourhood, people with various injuries arrived in ambulances, in cars and on foot. The explosion had caused major damage inside the building and knocked out the electricity at the hospital. Dozens of injured were being treated on the spot on the street outside, on stretchers and wheelchairs.

“This is a catastrophe we have on our hands,” said one doctor, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make press statements.
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Associated Press writer Sarah El Deeb in Beirut and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed.