The blast struck Beirut’s port and surrounding area with the force of a 3.5 magnitude earthquake.
The authorities say a warehouse storing Amonium Nitrate caught fire – its a substance which can be used as a fertilizer and as an explosive.
The blast comes at a sensitive time for Lebanon the economy is in collapse and sectarian tensions are on the rise again – what triggered the fire is a matter of speculation.*
The blast killed at least 135 people and injured more than 4,000 others. A two-week state of emergency has begun.
President Michel Aoun said the blast was caused by 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored unsafely in a warehouse.
Customs chief Badri Daher said his agency called for the chemical to be removed, but “this did not happen”.
“We leave it to the experts to determine the reasons,” he said.
Ammonium nitrate is used as a fertiliser in agriculture and as an explosive.
Opening an emergency cabinet meeting on Wednesday, President Aoun said: “No words can describe the horror that has hit Beirut last night, turning it into a disaster-stricken city”.*
Specialists at the University of Sheffield in the UK estimate that the blast had about one tenth of the explosive power the atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima of during World War Two and was “unquestionably one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions in history”.
What triggered the explosion?
The ammonium nitrate had reportedly been in a warehouse in Beirut port for six years after it was unloaded from a ship impounded in 2013.
The head of Beirut port and the head of the customs authority both told local media that they had written to the judiciary several times asking that the chemical be exported or sold on to ensure port safety.
Port General Manager Hassan Koraytem told OTV that they had been aware that the material was dangerous when a court first ordered it stored in the warehouse, “but not to this degree”.
