An explosion in the port of Lebanon’s capital on Tuesday devastated the city, with a national day of mourning declared for Wednesday
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On Tuesday evening in Lebanon’s capital city of Beirut, two huge explosions in its port sent an enormous blast wave across the city, killing at least 135 people and injuring around 4,000 more. The scale of the damage is huge, with buildings miles from the port lying in ruin. The blast comes at a terrible time for Lebanon, which is on the brink of financial collapse.
Up to 300,000 people had suffered damage to their homes, leaving some uninhabitable. Dozens were still missing, feared dead.
Hospitals that were already dealing with the coronavirus crisis were quickly filled beyond capacity, and issued pleas for blood donations and generators to keep the lights going.
Lebanon’s prime minister, Hassan Diab, said the cause of the explosion was 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate. Diab declared a national day of mourning for the victims of the explosion. The warehouse that authorities claim was the site of the blast had been the subject of warnings going back to 2014, he said. He would “reveal facts” about the warehouse soon, he said, but did not want to pre-empt an investigation.
Beirut’s governor, Marwan Abboud, said damage from the blast extended over half of Beirut, with the cost of damage likely above $3bn
On Wednesday Donald Trump continued to suggest that the explosion might have been a deliberate attack, even as officials in Lebanon and his own defence secretary, Mark Esper, said most believed it was an accident. But Esper added that the Pentagon was still gathering information about the explosion. On Tuesday Trump had said the explosion “looks like a terrible attack”.
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