The blast near Beirut's port sent up an enormous mushroom cloud-shaped shockwave, flipping cars and damaging distant buildings. it had been felt as far as Cyprus, many miles away, and registered as a 3.3 magnitude earthquake within the Lebanese capital.
Lebanon's Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, said that 2,750 plenty of nitrate , a highly explosive material utilized in fertilizers and bombs, had been stored for 6 years at a port warehouse without safety measures, "endangering the security of citizens," consistent with a press release .
The Prime Minister called the storage of the fabric "unacceptable" and involved an investigation into the explanation for the blast, with the results released within five days, the statement said.
Lebanon's General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim said the "highly explosive material" had been confiscated years earlier and stored within the warehouse, just minutes' walk from Beirut's shopping and nightlife districts.
Initial reports blamed the explosion on a serious fire at a warehouse for firecrackers near the port, consistent with Lebanese state press agency NNA.
The price from the blast is probably going to still climb as more bodies are pulled from the wreckage. a minimum of 78 people are known to possess died and an extra 4,000 wounded, Hamad Hasan, the country's health minister said, consistent with Reuters.
"There are many of us missing so far ," Hasan said. "People are asking the emergency department about their loved ones and it's difficult to look in the dark because there's no electricity. We face a true catastrophe and wish time to assess the extent of damages."
A Red Cloud hung over the town within the wake of the explosion, which happened just after 6 p.m. civil time (11 a.m. ET), as firefighting teams rushed to the scene to undertake to place out the initial fire. Footage from the scene captured the injured staggering through streets within the capital, and ambulances, cars and military vehicles full of the wounded. One resident said the scenes looked "like an apocalypse."
At least 10 firefighters are missing, consistent with the city's governor Marwan Abboud, who said the scene reminded him of "Hiroshima and Nagasaki."
"In my life i have never seen destruction on this scale," Abboud said. "This may be a national catastrophe."
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said a minimum of one Australian was killed within the blast and therefore the Australian Embassy building has been "significantly compromised."
The blast comes at a tense time in Lebanon. On Friday, a United Nations-backed panel is predicted 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 additionally within the midst of an economic meltdown, with ballooning unemployment, a tanking currency and poverty rates soaring above 50%.
Hospitals inundated
Beirut's hospitals Tuesday reflected the chaos within the city as doctors conducted triage on dozens of wounded people. Some had broken limbs, others had been showered with shards of glass. Some patients were unconscious.
Emergency wards are inundated with the injured, while the Lebanese Red Cross implored the general public on Twitter for blood donations to assist the wounded. one among Beirut's major hospitals, Hotel Dieu, received around 400 injured patients, an employee told CNN.
The Secretary-General of the Kataeb party , Nazar Najarian, died after being injured within the explosion, NNA reported. He was in his office when the explosion happened.
The US Embassy in Beirut urged those within the area of the explosion to "stay indoors and wear masks if available" thanks to reports of toxic gases released from the blast.
The explosion damaged buildings across the town , including the official residence of Lebanon's president, the headquarters of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, and CNN's bureau in downtown Beirut. Homes as far as 10 kilometers away were damaged, consistent with witnesses, and even people on the distant island of Cyprus felt the blast, consistent with the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC).
One Beirut resident who was several kilometers faraway from the location of the blast said her windows had been shattered by the explosion. "What I felt was that it had been an earthquake," Rania Masri told CNN.
"The apartment shook horizontally and every one of a sudden it felt like an explosion and therefore the windows and doors burst open. The glass just broke. numerous homes were damaged or destroyed."
"You can see injured people everywhere the streets in Beirut, glass everywhere the place, cars are damaged, it's like an apocalypse," said Bachar Ghattas, another resident.
"It is extremely , very frightening what's happening immediately , and other people are freaking out. The emergency services are overwhelmed," Ghattas told CNN. "Beirut port is completely destroyed."
The port is that the primary entry point for many of Lebanon's imports, CNN's Wedeman said.
The US response
United States President Donald Trump offered sympathy and assistance to the people of Lebanon, pertaining to the incident as a "terrible attack." Lebanese officials haven't called the explosion an attack.
Asked if he was confident if the explosion was an attack, the President said it "seems like" it had been , supported what US military officials have told him.
"This was a -- seems to be consistent with them, they might know better than i might , but they appear to think it had been an attack. it had been a bomb of some kind," he told reporters at the White House.
But three US Department of Defense officials told CNN that as of Tuesday night there was no indication the explosion was an attack. The officials, who declined to be identified in order that they could speak freely, said they do not know what the President is talking about.
One official acknowledged that if there have been indications an attack of this scale had occurred, it might trigger automatic increases effective protection for US troops and assets within the region.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo extended condolences and said, "We are closely monitoring and stand able to assist the people of Lebanon as they get over this tragedy."
The us Ambassador in Lebanon, Dorothy Shea, expressed "heartfelt sympathies" to the victims and their families after "having witnessed the horrific explosions at the Port," she said during a statement shared on Twitter.
"We mourn each loss from this terrible tragedy alongside the Lebanese people," the US Ambassador added.
World mourns
Prime Minister Diab described the explosion as a "catastrophe" in his televised statement. He concluded by making "an emergency call to all or any those countries who love this country to face by us and to assist us heal our deep wounds." World leaders have expressed their condolences amid the unfolding tragedy.
Israel offered humanitarian medical assistance to Lebanon -- a big gesture as Lebanon is one among alittle number of nations that Israel regards as an enemy state. There are no diplomatic relations since a ceasefire signed between the 2 countries in 1949.
A spokesman at the Ziv center in Safed, Israel, shortly from the border with Lebanon, told CNN that that they had been contacted by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and told to organize for the possible arrival overnight of UN personnel wounded within the blast.
The UK, Turkey, Qatar and Spain were also among the countries that offered their support to Lebanon.
Jordanian secretary of state Ayman Safadi called his Lebanese counterpart Charbel Wahbeh to mention that"Jordanians substitute support with Lebanon and its Lebanese brothers and are able to offer any help they have ," he said during a tweet.
French President Emmanuel Macron said "rescue and aid" were on the thanks to Lebanon, while expressing solidarity with the "Lebanese people after the explosion that caused numerous casualties then much damage tonight in Beirut."
Iran's secretary of state Javad Zarif tweeted that his country was able to help Lebanon "in any way necessary."
"My thoughts are with the people of #Lebanon and with the families of the victims of the tragic #BeirutBlast," President of the ecu Council Charles Michel said during a tweet. "The EU stands able to provide assistance and support."
Lebanese militant and political group Hezbollah said the explosion would require the unity of all Lebanese to beat the catastrophe.
"We are putting all our capabilities in serving our honorable people and dear citizens as required ," Hezbollah said during a statement.
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