In Pictures

In Pictures: Beirut ‘like a war zone’ after deadly blast

Tuesday’s blast at port warehouses storing highly flammable material was the most powerful in years in Lebanese capital.

A general view shows the damage at the site of Tuesday's blast in Beirut's port area. [Mohamed Azakir/Reuters]

5 Aug 2020

Lebanese rescue workers are digging through rubble looking for survivors of a powerful warehouse explosion that shook the capital, Beirut, killing 100 people and injuring nearly 4,000 in a toll that officials expect to rise.

Tuesday’s blast at port warehouses storing highly explosive material was the most powerful in years in Beirut, already reeling from an economic crisis and a surge in coronavirus infections.

“It’s like a war zone. I’m speechless,” Beirut‘s mayor, Jamal Itani, told the Reuters news agency while inspecting the damage on Wednesday that he estimated would cost billions of dollars.

“This is a catastrophe for Beirut and Lebanon.”

The head of Lebanon’s Red Cross, George Kettani, said at least 100 people had been killed. “We are still sweeping the area. There could still be victims. I hope not,” he said.

Dazed, weeping and injured people walked through streets searching for relatives.

“The blast blew me metres away. I was in a daze and was all covered in blood. It brought back the vision of another explosion I witnessed against the US embassy in 1983,” said Huda Baroudi, a Beirut designer.

“There are many people missing. People are asking the emergency department about their loved ones and it is difficult to search at night because there is no electricity,” Health Minister Hamad Hassan told Reuters late on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab promised there would be accountability for the blast at the “dangerous warehouse”, adding “those responsible will pay the price”.

A man removes broken glass scattered on the carpet of a mosque damaged in the blast. [Aziz Taher/Reuters]

A woman takes pictures by her mobile phone for a damaged church, after an explosion hit the seaport of Beirut. [Hussein Malla/AP Photo]

Lebanese soldiers search for survivors after a massive explosion in Beirut. [Hassan Ammar/AP Photo]

Citizens ride their scooters and motorcycles pass in front of a house that was destroyed in Tuesday's massive explosion in the seaport of Beirut. [Hussein Malla/AP Photo]

A damaged facade following Tuesday's explosion at the port in Lebanon's capital Beirut. [Anwar Amro/AFP]

The explosion sent shockwaves across the city, causing widespread damage as far as on the outskirts of the capital. [Zeina Khodr/Al Jazeera]

Medical equipment scattered on the ground at a damaged hospital. Rescuers worked through the night after the explosion ripped through Beirut's port, killing at least 100 people and injuring thousands. [Mohamed Azakir/Reuters]

The death toll is expected to rise further as emergency workers continue to dig through the rubble in search of survivors. [Mohamed Azakir/Reuters]

The massive explosion in Beirut triggered a magnitude 3.5 earthquake, according to Germany's geosciences centre GFZ. [Zeina Khodr/Al Jazeera]

Lebanon's Supreme Defence Council, which brings together the president and all major security agencies, declared Beirut a disaster-stricken city. [Zeina Khodr/Al Jazeera]

The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear. Officials linked the blast to some 2,750 tonnes of confiscated ammonium nitrate that were being stored in a warehouse at the port for six years. [Anwar Amro/AFP]

A general view shows the damage near the site of Tuesday's explosion. [Mohamed Azakir/Reuters]

Lebanon is already reeling from an economic crisis that has left more than half of its population in poverty. The situation has been worsened in recent months by the coronavirus pandemic. [Bilal Hussein/AP Photo]

A man pushes a stroller with a child past a damaged vehicle near the site of Tuesday's blast in Beirut's port area. [Mohamed Azakir/Reuters]

Tuesday's explosion was heard throughout Cyprus, which lies more than 200km (124 miles) away. [Aziz Taher/Reuters]