Public anger is on the boil over the blast caused by a massive pile of ammonium nitrate that had for years lain in a ramshackle portside warehouse – proof to many Lebanese of the deep rot at the core of their state system.

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“Am I going to die?” Couple recalls the moment of Beirut blast

“Am I going to die?” Couple recalls the moment of Beirut blast

Macron visited Beirut’s harbourside blast zone, now a wasteland of blackened ruins, rubble and charred debris where a 140 metre (460 feet) wide crater has filled with seawater.

As Macron inspected a devastated pharmacy, angry crowds outside vented their fury at their “terrorist” leadership, shouting “revolution” and “the people want an end to the regime!”

“Come rule us!” one man yelled at the president.

“Apocalypse”, “Armageddon” – Lebanese were lost for words to describe the impact of the blast, which dwarfed anything the country had experienced in its violence-plagued history.

The deadly explosion left dozens more missing and a staggering 5,000 people wounded, many by flying shards of glass as windows imploded.

The death toll was expected to rise as rescuers keep digging through the rubble.

‘Corpses everywhere’: apocalyptic scenes in Beirut

Offering a glimmer of hope amid the carnage, a French rescuer said there was a “good chance of finding … people alive”, especially a group believed to be trapped in a room under the rubble.

“We are looking for seven or eight missing people, who could be stuck in a control room buried by the explosion,” the colonel told Macron as he surveyed the site.

Paris has spearheaded international mobilisation in support of Lebanon, where flights carrying medical aid, field hospitals, rescue experts and tracking dogs have arrived since Wednesday.

Beirut’s governor estimated up to 300,000 people have been left temporarily homeless by the destruction, which he said would cost the debt-ridden country in excess of three billion dollars.

According to several officials, the explosion was caused by a fire igniting 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser stored for years in the warehouse.

Even as they counted their dead and cleaned up the streets, many Lebanese were boiling with anger over a blast they see as the most shocking expression yet of their leadership’s incompetence.

“We can’t bear more than this. This is it. The whole system has got to go,” said 30-year-old Mohammad Suyur as he picked up broken glass in Mar Mikhail, one of the worst-hit city districts.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab and President Michel Aoun have promised to put the culprits behind bars, but trust in institutions is low and few on Beirut’s streets held out hope for an impartial inquiry.

The disaster could reignite a cross-sectarian protest movement that erupted last October and had looked briefly like it could topple what activists consider a hereditary kleptocracy.

“Lebanon’s political class should be on guard in the weeks ahead,” Faysal Itani of think tank the Centre for Global Policy wrote in The New York Times.

“Shock will inevitably turn to anger.”

Investigation launched into cause of deadly Beirut blast amid public anger

Human Rights Watch supported mounting calls for an international probe into the disaster.

“An independent investigation with international experts is the best guarantee that victims of the explosion will get the justice they deserve,” the watchdog said.

In France, prosecutors have opened a probe into the blast over injuries suffered by 21 French citizens.

Amid the gloom and fury, the aftermath of the terrible explosion has also yielded countless uplifting examples of spontaneous solidarity.

Business owners swiftly took to social media, posting offers to repair doors, paint damaged walls or replace shattered windows for free.

Much of the clean-up has been handled by volunteers in improvised working groups who bring their own equipment and organise online appeals for help.

“We’re sending people into the damaged homes of the elderly and handicapped to help them find a home for tonight,” said Husam Abu Nasr, a 30-year-old volunteer.

“We don’t have a state to take these steps, so we took matters into our own hands.”

Meanwhile, a German diplomat was killed in the huge explosion, as the country’s foreign minister expressed his condolences on Thursday over the tragedy.

“All of us at the foreign ministry are in deep mourning for our colleague,” said Heiko Maas in a statement. He added that the female employee had died in her apartment in the Lebanese capital.