Massive blast rocks Beirut's port area, causing 100s of casualties and widespread damage

State agency says warehouse in port area contained explosives

The Associated Press · Posted: Aug 04, 2020 12:01 PM ET | Last Updated: 40 minutes ago

Firefighters spray water at a fire after a huge explosion rocked downtown Beirut on Tuesday. (Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)
A massive blast rocked downtown Beirut on Tuesday, flattening much of the port, damaging buildings and blowing out windows and doors as a giant mushroom cloud rose above the capital.

Lebanese Red Cross official Georges Kettaneh said there hundreds of casualties, both dead and wounded.

A civil defence official on the scene of the blast said his men had evacuated dozens to hospitals and that there were still bodies inside the port, many of them under debris.

OlivierK wrote:The thing that strikes me from that video is that the ammonium nitrate factory explosion that Thunderf00t says looks completely different to Beirut looks exactly the same to me.

aliihsanasl wrote:Trump: Massive explosion in Beirut was likely an 'attack'

felltoearth wrote:The common thing is the gaseous cloud front expanding prior to the smoke. Is that just water vapour though? To my eye the big difference is the colour where the Beirut cloud is strongly reddish orange and the Texas cloud is grey/black.