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Agence France-Presse

An entire port engulfed in fire, ships ablaze at sea and crumbling buildings: the site of twin massive blasts in Beirut’s harbour area resembled a post-nuclear landscape.
The death toll early Wednesday climbed to 100, with more than 4,000 people injured in the blasts, the Lebanese Red Cross said. A much higher death toll seemed inevitable.
Soldiers cordoned off the area, littered with glass and debris from the explosions which officials said was the result of fire catching in a warehouse where hundreds of tonnes of ammonium nitrate were stored.
A woman in her twenties stood screaming at security forces, asking about the fate of her brother, a port employee.
“His name is Jad, his eyes are green,” she pleaded, to no avail as security forces would not let her enter.

Nearby another woman almost fainted while also asking about her brother who worked at the port.
Ambulance sirens rang throughout the area as vehicles ferried the dead out for at least three hours and fire trucks rushed in and out of the blast zone.
Inside the port itself, the hangars looked like charred cans, everything destroyed beyond recognition as firefighting helicopters flew overhead, dumping water.


Abandoned luggage was strewn across the area. Next to one untouched bag lay an unattended corpse.
Every parked vehicle within a radius of several hundred metres sustained damage from the blasts, so big that it was felt in Cyprus, 240km (150 miles) away.
The cars closest to the site of the explosion were reduced to scrapyard metal, their wailing alarms and flashing lights adding to the chaos.
Trump claims US generals feel Beirut blasts were likely an ‘attack’
Exhausted firefighters rushed to the scene, some searching for colleagues sent in earlier to put out the initial fire that was raging before the second bigger explosion shook the city.
With the help of the security forces, civil defence teams scoured the area for corpses, as officers screamed at reporters who were trying to document the disaster.
“What are you taking pictures of? There are corpses everywhere,” said one of them.

Members of the security forces broke down in tears when one of their colleagues was brought to them dead on a stretcher.
A fellow police officer pulled out a picture of the deceased with his fiancée, as his comrades wept.
A ship anchored off the port was ablaze from the mushroom of fire, causing panic among the authorities fearing the fuel on-board would trigger another tragedy.
Sitting on a sidewalk near the site of the blasts, at least 10 crew members of two cargo ships damaged in the explosion were waiting to be treated by doctors.
“The ship is sinking in the water, the explosion caused an opening in it, and there are serious injuries on board,” said an Egyptian member of the crew of one of the ships, Mero Star.

“We heard firecrackers and we saw smoke coming out of a warehouse … and after a few minutes the explosion happened,” said another crew member, who asked not be named.
Syrian and Egyptian crew had arrived at the port on Tuesday on board a ship carrying cargo from Ukraine, and many were planning to head back home on Tuesday.
“From the day we set sail six months ago, we had been looking forward to this day of homecoming,” said one Syrian seafarer.
Another Egyptian crew member said he was planning to go back home on Wednesday after months at sea.
“But I will not be able to,” he said. “I don’t know what to do.”
It was the most powerful explosion ever seen in the city, which was on the front lines of the 1975-1990 civil war and has endured conflicts with neighbouring Israel and periodic bombings and terror attacks.
The size and scale of the Beirut explosion mirrored that of another major disaster involving ammonium nitrate. In 1947, a ship carrying some 2,200 tonnes of the chemical compound caught fire in Texas City, Texas, and exploded, causing a series of subsequent blasts at nearby oil facilities and a chemical plant. That disaster killed over 575 people and wounded another 4,000.
“L’Apocalypse,” read the front page of Lebanon’s French L’Orient Le Jour newspaper. Another paper, al-Akhbar, had a photo of a destroyed port with the words: “The Great Collapse”.
Lebanon was already on the brink of collapse amid a severe economic crisis that has ignited mass protests in recent months. Its hospitals are confronting a surge in coronavirus cases, and there were concerns the virus could spread further as people flooded into hospitals.
Additional reporting by Associated Press



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Middle East

‘Corpses everywhere’: apocalyptic scenes in Beirut

The aftermath of an explosion at the port in the Lebanese capital Beirut. Photo: AFP

A man carries away an injured girl following a massive explosion in Beirut's port that rocked the whole city.

epa08584127 Smoke rises near a destroyed grain silo following an explosion at the Beirut Port, Beirut, Lebanon, 04 August 2020. According to media reports citing official sources at least 40 people were killed and 2,500 injured in the explosion which also caused severe damage, while its cause is not yet known. EPA-EFE/IBRAHIM DIRANI/DAR AL MUSSAWIR

A man evacuates an injured person after a massive explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Trump claims US generals feel Beirut blast was likely an ‘attack’

US President Donald Trump. Photo: AFP

Smoke rises in the aftermath of a massive explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A Lebanese army soldier runs at the scene of the explosion at the port of Lebanon's capital Beirut. Photo: AFP

Beirut blasts: Lebanon in three days of mourning after twin explosions kill 100, injure 4,000

A wounded man is checked by a fireman near the scene of an explosion in Beirut on August 4, 2020. Photo: AFP

TOPSHOT - (COMBO) This combination of pictures created from UGC footage taken on August 4, 2020 and filmed from a highrise shows a fireball exploding while smoke is billowing at the port of the Lebanese capital Beirut. - Two huge explosion rocked the Lebanese capital Beirut, wounding dozens of people, shaking buildings and sending huge plumes of smoke billowing into the sky. Lebanese media carried images of people trapped under rubble, some bloodied, after the massive explosions, the cause of which was not immediately known. (Photos by Mouafac HARB / MOUAFAC HARB / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO /MOUAFAC HARB/HANDOUT " - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - NO RESALE-DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Smoke is seen after an explosion in Beirut, Lebanon August 4, 2020, in this picture obtained from social media. Gaby Maamary/via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES.

epa08584317 A view of the damages after an explosion at the Beirut Port, Beirut, Lebanon, 04 August 2020. Dozens of people were killed and at least 2,500 injured in the explosion which also caused severe damage, while its cause is not yet known. EPA-EFE/WAEL HAMZEH

A helicopter puts out a fire at the scene of an explosion at the port of Lebanon’s capital Beirut. Photo: AFP

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World


Scenes of carnage in Beirut after massive explosions kill 100, injure more than 4,000
Blasts blew out windows across the capital and was even heard from Cyprus



An entire port engulfed in fire, ships ablaze at sea and crumbling buildings: the site of the massive explosions in Beirut’s harbour area resembled a post-nuclear landscape.


‘Corpses everywhere’: apocalyptic scenes in Beirut

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Scenes of carnage in Beirut after massive explosions kill 100, injure more than 4,000 Blasts blew out windows across the capital and was even heard from Cyprus

Scenes of carnage in Beirut after massive explosions kill 100, injure more than 4,000

Blasts blew out windows across the capital and was even heard from Cyprus