At least 113 dead in Beirut warehouse blast
A helicopter puts out a fire at the scene of an explosion at the port of Lebanon's capital Beirut on August 4.
Rescue workers dug through the mangled wreckage of buildings yesterday looking for survivors after a massive warehouse explosion sent a devastating blast wave across Beirut, Lebanon, killing at least 113 people and injuring more than 4,000.
Officials said the toll was expected to rise after Tuesday’s blast at port warehouses that stored highly explosive material. The blast was the most powerful ever to rip through Beirut, a city still scarred by civil war three decades ago and reeling from an economic meltdown and a surge in coronavirus infections.
It sent a mushroom cloud into the sky and rattled windows on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, about 160 kilometers away.
President Michel Aoun said 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, used in fertilizers and bombs, had been stored for six years at the port without safety measures. He told the nation the government was “determined to investigate and expose what happened as soon as possible.”
An official source familiar with preliminary investigations blamed the incident on “inaction and negligence,” saying nothing was done” by committees and judges to order the removal of hazardous material.
A security source and media said it was started by welding work being carried out on a warehouse.
A general view shows the damage at the site of Tuesday’s blast in Beirut’s port area in Lebanon.
Beirut’s governor Marwan Abboud spoke of “an apocalyptic situation” that may have made 300,000 people temporarily homeless and would cost the country over US$3 billion.
The health minister said the death toll had climbed to 113, as the search for victims continued.
The intensity of the blast threw victims into the sea where rescue teams tried to recover bodies. Many of those killed were port and custom employees and people working in the area or driving through during the Tuesday evening rush hour.
Sara, a nurse in Beirut’s Clemenceau Medical Center, described scenes at her hospital “like a slaughterhouse, blood covering the corridors and the lifts.”
Facades of central Beirut buildings were ripped off, furniture was sucked into streets and roads were strewn with glass and debris. Cars were flipped over.
Offers of international support poured in. Gulf states were among the first to respond, with Qatar announcing it would send field hospitals to ease pressure on Lebanon’s strained medical system. Iran offered food and a field hospital, ISNA news agency said.
The United States, Britain, France and other Western nations, which have been demanding political change in Lebanon, also offered help.
Rescuers and civil defence gather at Beirut port’s silo on August 5, 2020 in the aftermath of a massive explosion in the Lebanese capital.
Fear of food crisis as grain silo ruined
Lebanon’s main grain silo at Beirut port was destroyed in a blast, leaving the nation with less than a month’s reserves of the grain but still with enough flour to avoid a crisis, the economy minister said yesterday.
Raoul Nehme said that Lebanon needed reserves for at least three months to ensure food security and was looking at other storage areas.
“There is no bread or flour crisis,” the minister said. “We have enough inventory and boats on their way to cover the needs of Lebanon on the long term.”
He said grain reserves in Lebanon’s remaining silos stood at “a bit less than a month” but said the destroyed silos had only held 15,000 tons of the grain at the time, much less than capacity which one official put at 120,000 tons.
Beirut’s port district was a mangled wreck, disabling the main entry point for imports to feed a nation of more than 6 million people.
Ahmed Tamer, the director of Tripoli port, Lebanon’s second biggest facility, said his port did not have grain storage but cargoes could be taken to warehouses 2 kilometers away.
Alongside Tripoli, the ports of Saida, Selaata and Jiyeh were equipped to handle grain. Hani Bohsali, head of the importers’ syndicate said: “We fear there will be a huge supply chain problem, unless there is an international consensus to save us.”
Reserves of flour were sufficient to cover market needs for a month and a half and there were four ships carrying 28,000 tons of wheat heading to Lebanon.
A combination of pictures shows the blast and smoke billowing from a port in Beirut.
Quick facts
What happened?
An initial large explosion in the port area of Beirut took place around 6pm, resulting in a fire, several small blasts and then a colossal explosion that flattened the harbor front and buildings.
Why such a big blast?
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hassan Diab said 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in the warehouse had blown up, sparking “a disaster in every sense of the word.”
Ammonium nitrate is an odorless crystalline substance that has been the cause of numerous industrial explosions over the decades.
There has been no indication from Lebanese officials that the explosions were caused deliberately.
What happens next?
Lebanon’s national defense council has declared Beirut a disaster zone and Diab has appealed to Lebanon’s allies to “stand by” the country and send aid.
