The health Minister of Lebanon says that a massive blast in Beirut, Lebanon took around 70 people and more than four thousand people. Many of the footages have shown that smoke rising from an intense fire and after this, a mushroom cloud following that explosion at the city’s port.
Authorities’ officials claimed that highly explosive chemicals had been stored in the warehouse for six years. Michel Aoun, the President of Lebanon, tweeted that it was intolerable that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate kept dangerously. Moreover, there is an investigation going to track the exact cause for that blast.
A large explosion has been heard in the Lebanese capital Beirut. Security sources said a number of people were injured during the widespread destruction across the city, with residents reporting windows being blown out and ceilings collapsing
Read more: https://t.co/27zh8LaW5n pic.twitter.com/SZ82gxAA7Z
— SkyNews (@SkyNews) August 4, 2020
Supreme Defense Council of Lebanon described that those responsible would deal with maximum punishment. Besides this, few hospitals and many other buildings have been exploded.
However, President Michel Aoun announced a 3-day grief period and even said that the government would pass a hundred billion liras or 66 million dollars of immediate funds.
Hassan Diab, the Prime Minister, called it a huge disaster and said that those who responsible would be held to account. He talked about that dangerous warehouse, which was present there since 2014, and described that he wouldn’t halt the investigation.
Source: Web
One of the eyewitnesses reported to a media company, AFP news agency, that the surrounding buildings have collapsed. Furthermore, he added that he was walking via glass and debris all around, in the dark.
The explosion was heard 150 miles (240 KM) far away on Cyprus island in the eastern Mediterranean. The blast occurs at a critical time for Lebanon, as Lebanon is having economic problems sparking old divisions. The tensions are highly ramping up ahead of Friday’s decision in a trial due to the murder of Rafik Hariri, the ex-Prime Minister, in 2005.
An eyewitness told the condition of blast
An eyewitness told a media outlet, BBC News, that he saw the fire, but he didn’t know there was going to be a blast. They went inside, and suddenly he lost his hearing because he was so close. He continued that he lost his hearing for seconds, and he knew there was something wrong.
He added that abruptly the glass crushed all over the vehicle, the cars around them, the buildings, the stores, the shops. Everywhere glass going down from surroundings.
He also described that all across the Beirut, everyone was calling each other from various locations kilometers away, and all of them were experiencing a similar effect, buildings shaking, a loud explosion, and broken glass.
