Dozens death and thousands injured , says health Minister Lebanon after an explosion happened in the capital city of the country.
A large blast in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, has killed at least 73 people and injured more than 2,700 people after a massive explosion caused by a warehouse fire rocked Lebanon’s capital city of Beirut.
The warehouse held highly explosive material, including sodium nitrate, said an official with Lebanon’s army who added that the blast was likely caused by a fire and wasn’t an attack. Sodium nitrate, used to make fertilizer and fireworks, also accelerates the burning of other materials.
The blast is the latest blow for Lebanon, a country already reeling from multiple crises in recent months, ranging from large street protests over government corruption to an economy on the brink of collapse after years of mismanagement. Before the explosion, which shook the whole of Beirut, Lebanon’s economy was in free fall and ordinary Lebanese citizens were struggling with soaring prices of food and other goods, as well as long daily power cuts.
Videos show smoke billowing from a fire, then a mushroom cloud following the blast at the city’s port.
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Officials are blaming highly explosive materials stored in a warehouse for six years.
President Michel Aoun tweeted it was “unacceptable” that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate was stored unsafely.
An investigation is under way to find the exact trigger for the explosion.
A BBC journalist at the scene reported dead bodies and severe damage, enough to put the port of Beirut out of action.
