The pioneers of social networking sites shared videos from inside buildings around the explosion of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, showing terror and attempts to escape.
A massive explosion occurred near the center of Beirut, killing dozens and injuring thousands, and sent shock waves throughout the capital on Tuesday. The glass facades of the buildings were destroyed and the balconies collapsed.
Officials expect the death toll to rise significantly as rescue teams search among the rubble in a large area of the city to remove the stranded people and retrieve the bodies. This is the fiercest explosion that hit Beirut in years, making the earth shake, so people thought it was an earthquake.
From my sister's house in the Corniche of Mazraa, and my nephew was following Amr 6 years dead Raba’a # Lebanon # Beirut pic.twitter.com/MD0tOK08CK
- мσнαммα∂ αℓ נ αмαℓ (@ moejamal1991) August 4, 2020
"What we see is a great disaster," Lebanese Red Cross Secretary-General George Kettana told Al-Mayadeen television. "There are dead and wounded everywhere in all the streets and in the areas near and far from the explosion," he added.
Three hours after the explosion, which occurred at six in the evening local time (1500 GMT) yesterday, the fire was still raging in the port area and emitting an orange glow in the dark sky at the time of the helicopters flying and the sounds of ambulances ringing throughout the capital.
From the Ogero center, Bir Hassan, at the moment of the explosion, God protects every colleague of mine who was present, Honique لبنان # Lebanon # Beirut # Beirut pic.twitter.com/27HxlW29UR
- мσнαммα∂ αℓ נ αмαℓ (@ moejamal1991) August 4, 2020
The Interior Minister said that preliminary information indicated that high explosive materials had been confiscated for years and stored there had exploded. He later told Al-Jadeed TV that nitrate material had been stored there since 2014.
Video footage circulated by the residents via the media showed a column of smoke rising from the port area, followed by a huge explosion that resulted in white smoke and fire in the sky. From the severity of the explosion, the people who were photographing it from the high buildings in other parts of the city fell to the ground.
For his part, the Minister of Health said in televised statements that the number of victims of this explosion rose to more than 50 dead and 2700 injured. The Lebanese Red Cross said that hundreds were taken to hospitals.