The video, filmed through Karim Sokhn, shows the moment of the explosion, according to Storyful. (Credit: Karim Sokhn Storyful)
BEIRUT – A large explosion rocked Beirut on Tuesday, killing at least 70 other people and injuring thousands more as it crushed much of the port, damaging buildings throughout the capital and sending a giant fungus to the sky.
At a news convention later Tuesday, President Trump said U.S. army generals had told him they thought the big explosion was probably a bomb.
“I bet some of our wonderful generals and they just seem to think it’s not some kind of production explosion-type event,” Trump said. “They seem to think it’s an attack. It’s a bomb of some kind.”
The cause of the explosion remains unclear. The Lebanese Red Cross tweeted that more than 30 groups were responding to the ambulance explosion.
The fitness minister said at least 70 other people were killed and more than 3,000 injured.
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Lebanese Red Cross official Georges Kettaneh said the wounded were being taken to hospitals outside the capital because the facilities were at full capacity. He calculated the number of casualties by the hundreds, but said he had no precise figures on the dead or injured.
Abbas Ibrahim, Lebanon’s chief of security, said the explosion was possibly due to highly explosive fabrics that were confiscated from a shipment some time ago and stored in the port. Local television station LBC reported that sodium nitrate curtains.
The explosion is staggering even for a city that has experienced civil war, suicide bombings and attacks on Israel. You may hear and feel as far away as Cyprus, more than 180 miles across the Mediterranean.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun said the explosion caused 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse, according to Storyful. (Credit: Habib Darwish via Storyful)
“It’s a real horror show. I haven’t noticed anything like it since the time of the (civil) war,” said Marwan Ramadan, who about 550 metres from the port and collapsed by the force of the explosion.
Witnesses reported seeing a strange orange cloud at the scene after the explosion. Orange clouds of poison nitrogen dioxide fuel accompany an explosion involving nitrates.
A video taken by citizens showed a burning chimney in the harbor, sending a giant plume of smoke, illuminated through flashes of what appear to be chimneys. Local television stations reported that a chimney store was involved.
The chimney then gave the impression of approaching the building, causing a larger explosion, sending a mushroom-shaped cloud and a surprise wave.
Hours after the explosion, ambulances were moving the wounded. Authorities said the city’s hospitals were completely full.
Videos of thick smoke emerging between buildings circulated on social media, as well as photographs described as internal damage that appeared. (Credit: g.mikdashi Storyful)
The afternoon explosion shook several spaces of the capital and dense smoke rose from the city center. Residents reported that the windows had broken and the balconies and ceilings had collapsed. The explosion gave the impression of being focused around Beirut’s port and caused widespread destruction and broken windows miles away.
A civil defense official at the scene said his men had evacuated dozens of people to hospitals and that there were still bodies inside the port, many of them under the rubble.
Dozens of ambulances transported the wounded from the harbor area, where the wounded were mendacity on the ground, the Associated Press said at the scene. Hospitals were asking for blood donations.
“I saw a fireball and smoke spilling over Beirut. People were screaming and running, bleeding. The balconies were torn from the buildings. The glasses of the skyscrapers broke and fell into the street,” Reuters told an anonymous witness.
“We are aware of the explosion and are involved in the possible loss of life due to such a large explosion,” Captain Bill Urban, spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said in a statement to Fox News.
The cause of the explosion is the investigation, but Hezbollah is already in the spotlight, several intelligence resources told Fox News.
“There are cars with dead people on the streets under the rubble, and medical infrastructure is already operating at full capacity due to the pandemic and lack of supplies,” said a source in the area.
Another source told Fox News that the port was unofficially controlled through Hezbollah, and noted that other opposition actors in the region might have played a role.
An Israeli government official said Israel “had nothing to do” with the explosion. He spoke on condition of anonymity because it was not legal to discuss the matter with the media. Israeli officials do not comment on “foreign reports.”
An Associated Press photographer near the port witnessed other people injured on the ground and widespread destruction in downtown Beirut. Some local television stations reported that the explosion took place inside a domain where firecrackers were stored.
“It’s like a nuclear explosion,” said Walid Abdo, a 43-year-old schoolteacher from the Gemayzeh community near Beirut.
Charbel Haj, who works at the port, said he started with small explosions like firecrackers, then the massive explosion broke out and threw himself on his feet.
Miles from the harbour, the balconies were torn down, the windows shattered, the streets covered in glass and bricks and covered with crashed cars. Motorcyclists chose their way through traffic, dressing the wounded.
A woman covered in blood from the waist up walked down a destroyed street as she spoke furiously on her phone. In the street, a woman with a bloody face seemed distressed, staggering through traffic with two friends by her side.
“This country is cursed, ” murmured a passing man.
Outside St. George’s University Hospital in Beirut’s Achrafieh district, other injured people arrived by ambulance, car and foot. The explosion caused extensive damage to the construction site and cut off the hospital’s electricity. Dozens of other injured people were treated at the scene on the street, on stretchers and wheelchairs.
The cause of the August 4 explosion is not yet transparent at the time of writing, according to Storyful. (Credit: haya_atassi through Storyful)
“This is a crisis we have in our hands,” said one doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity because it is not legal to make statements to the press.
The explosion came days before a U.N. court delivered its verdict on 4 suspected Hezbollah members accused of killing former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in a 2005 car bomb attack on the Coast of Beirut, the BBC reported.
A momentary explosion may have occurred Tuesday in the town near Hariri’s family home circle.
The explosion came at a time when the Lebanese economy is facing collapse, hit by a currency crisis and restrictions on coronaviruses. Many lost their jobs, while the share of their savings evaporated when the currency plummeted against the dollar. The result has brought many into poverty.
It was the ultimate bankruptcy for a country that has endured a 15-year civil war, repeated conflicts with Israel, political assassinations and other crises, adding up the current unprecedented monetary and economic crisis.
Trey Yingst, Hollie McKay and The Associated Press of Fox News contributed to the report. Get updates on this story in Foxnews.com.