RPT: REVIEW - Beirut Picks Up Pieces As Huge Blasts Leave At Least 100 Dead, Thousands Injured

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th August, 2020) The Lebanese capital of Beirut is coming to terms with the damage and destruction caused by a massive explosion that ripped through the city on Tuesday, destroying buildings, flipping over cars, and leaving more than 100 people dead and at least 4,000 others injured.

The blast took place at 17:11 local time [14:11 GMT] on Tuesday evening. Multiple reporters and citizens had already begun filming in the direction of the city's port, where a plume of smoke was visible following what is believed to be an initial explosion.

Minutes later, a huge blast created an enormous mushroom cloud over the Lebanese capital, and the resulting shockwave caused widespread destruction. The Jordanian Seismological Observatory said that the blast was equivalent to a 4.5-magnitude earthquake.

Speaking in the aftermath of the blast, Beirut's Governor Marwan Abboud said that the damage caused by the explosion was unprecedented in Lebanon's history, and compared the incident to the destruction caused by the dropping of atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.

The country's government has declared a two-week state of emergency in Beirut following the incident, the Al Jazeera broadcaster reported on Wednesday, citing Information Minister Manal Abdel Samad. Three days of national mourning also began on the same day in respect of the victims.

As the international community scrambles to offer help to the middle Eastern country, many questions remain over what caused the blast and whether the death toll will continue to rise over the coming days.

BEIRUT BLAMES IMPROPER STORAGE OF AMMONIUM NITRATE FOR BLAST

In the immediate aftermath of the blast, attention quickly turned to the cause of the massive explosion. Early reports suggested that Beirut's port area was home to a large amount of explosive material, which was stored in warehouses. Other reports said that a fire at a fireworks warehouse also played a role in the incident.

Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, said that the blast had been caused by the improper storage of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate in the port of Beirut.

Ammonium nitrate is commonly used in agriculture as a fertilizer, but it also forms part of explosive mixtures that are commonly used in quarrying and mining. The same substance also played a role in a series of massive explosions in the Chinese city of Tianjin in 2015 that killed 173 people.

"A spark led to the burning of explosive materials in the hangar that then led to a blast of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, which is equivalent to 1,800 tonnes of TNT," Lebanese officials said, as quoted by the country's LBCI broadcaster.

According to Diab, the store of ammonium nitrate had been kept at the port of Beirut for six years. Lebanese media later reported, citing the country's Supreme Defense Council, that the material had been brought into the country on a ship registered in Moldova.

The head of the country's customs service Badri Daher on Wednesday said that his agency had appealed nine times to an interim relief judge since 2014 to determine what to do with the ammonium nitrate store.

Following the prime minister's orders, an investigation committee was established to definitively name the cause of the blast and find those responsible, with the results of the investigation expected within five days. On Wednesday, the country's interior minister Mohamed Fahmi was quoted by domestic media as saying that international experts will not be required to help with the probe.

Diab has pledged that those responsible for the explosion will "pay the price," and the country's president Michel Aoun said that the results of the investigation will be released to the public.

The Lebanese government has ordered the house arrest of port authority officials responsible for storing, guarding and inspecting explosives since 2014, the country's minister for the displaced, Ghada Shreim, told Lebanese media on Wednesday evening.

The death toll from the massive blast at the port of Beirut has continued to rise steadily over the past 24 hours. In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Health Minister Hamad Hassan said that at least 30 people had died, with many of the deaths caused by fast-moving rubble and glass shards carried by the force of the explosion.

Lebanese health officials said that Beirut's hospitals were massively overcrowded following the blast, and ordered that wounded people be taken to hospitals outside of the Lebanese capital in order to ease the load on Beirut's health care facilities.

As of 01:57 GMT on Wednesday, the Lebanese Health Ministry said that the death toll had increased to 78, with 4,000 others suffering injuries in the blast.

Several hours later, the Lebanese Red Cross said that the number of victims from the incident was likely above 100.

On Wednesday afternoon, Reda Al Moussawi, an adviser to the country's health minister, told Sputnik that the official death stood at 108, although the Sky news Arabia broadcaster reported this figure had since risen to 113, citing Hassan.

The death toll is expected to rise further as search operations continue to find hundreds of people who have been reported missing and are believed to be trapped under the rubble.

Multiple governments have reported that their citizens were either killed or injured in the blast. The Armenian Foreign Ministry has so far reported that six of the country's citizens died as a result of the explosion.

The CNN Philippines broadcaster, citing the country's Department of Foreign Affairs, said that two citizens of the Philippines were killed in the blast and 18 others were injured.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed on Wednesday that one of the country's citizens had also died in the incident and one Egyptian citizen has also been reported dead.

Turkey has reported that six of its nationals suffered injuries in the blast, and staffers at the German and Belgian embassies were also injured.

As many as 48 UN employees were hurt in the incident, Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the UN secretary-general, told the Al Jazeera broadcaster. A United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon boat was docked in Beirut's port at the time of the blasts.

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY RUSHES TO OFFER CONDOLENCES, ASSISTANCE

A large number of international leaders have rushed to offer their condolences to the victims of the blast and provide assistance to the Middle Eastern country.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres offered his condolences in a Tweet on Wednesday and stated that the UN stands ready to provide all possible assistance to Lebanon.

World Health Organization representative Inas Hamam told Sputnik on Tuesday evening that the body is immediately sending enough trauma kits to treat 500 wounded people and kits to conduct as many as 500 surgeries.

Additionally, the International Committee of the Red Cross' representative in Lebanon, Rona Halabi, told Sputnik that the organization is monitoring the ongoing situation, adding that emergency medical supplies have been distributed to 12 hospitals in Beirut.

Two field hospitals, each designed to contain 500 beds, are being sent to Beirut from Qatar, Lebanon's National News Agency said on Wednesday, adding that Iraq and Kuwait are also sending medical assistance.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered his condolences to the victims of the blast and the Russian Foreign Ministry pledged to provide medical assistance.

Earlier on Wednesday, a Russian Il-76 jet carrying a mobile hospital took off from Moscow bound for Beirut. A second plane with 31 medical professionals on board took off from the Russian capital later in the day, and three more jets carrying medical aid are expected to leave Moscow within the next 24 hours, the Emergencies Ministry told Sputnik.

Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has also expressed his sympathies and announced that he will travel to Lebanon on Thursday to show solidarity and meet with the country's leaders.

US President Donald Trump, while offering his condolences, said that the incident may have been a bomb blast. The president stated that he had met with top US generals, who said that the event was likely not an accident.

Beirut faces a long road to recovery. The city's governor Marwan Abboud said on Wednesday that as many as 300,000 people have been made homeless by the blast.

While officials from the country's Economy Ministry have said that there is no risk of a food crisis despite the blast destroying a grain elevator, it will take months, if not years, to repair the estimated $3 billion to $5 billion in damage.

The Middle Eastern country has already faced months of civil unrest and economic crisis, which saw the local Currency depreciate heavily against the US Dollar. Bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund were put on hold in July as the authorities in Beirut were tasked with agreeing on a set of reforms that needed to be implemented in the country.

Lebanon will be hoping that the international community can rally together to provide the urgent assistance required to treat the wounded and the long-term help needed to set into motion Beirut's recovery from this unprecedented incident.