Two enormous explosions devastated Beirut’s port on Tuesday, leaving at least 73 people dead and thousands injured, shaking distant buildings and spreading panic and chaos across the Lebanese capital.
The second blast sent an enormous orange fireball into the sky, flattened the harbourside and drove a tornado-like shockwave through the city, shattering windows kilometres (miles) away.
Taking cognisance of the matter, Lebanon Prime Minister Hassan Diab said that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded in the Beirut port warehouse. “It is unacceptable that a shipment of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate has been present for six years in a warehouse, without taking preventive measures,” AFP quoting him as saying at a defence council meeting.
Online video showed a column of smoke rising from the port area from what appeared to be an initial explosion, followed by a massive blast that sent up a mushroom cloud and a shock wave racing over the city.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that the Lebanon blasts looked like a terrible attack. “It looks like a terrible attack,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi this morning said he was “shocked and saddened” by massive explosions in Beirut, Lebanon, last night that killed at least 73 people and wounded over 4,000.
The cause of the explosions was not immediately clear but a top official, General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim, said confiscated explosive materials had been stored at the city’s port.