Social media footage of Beirut shows a devastated city reduced to broken glass, rubble and billowing smoke
Video and photos emerging on social media hours after a devastating warehouse explosion on Tuesday left 100 people and several thousand others injured show a shattered city reduced to ash, rubble, debris and billowing smoke.
Several videos filmed by residents close to the site, focus on billows of dark smoke surfacing from the building; a few videos trained on the site appear to show small flashes of lights and sounds similar to to that of fireworks going on. Seconds later, a larger explosion is heard, erupting into a massive mushroom cloud, reminiscent of that of the atomic bomb in Japan, that is seen rapidly making its way into the city, engulfing everything in its path.
The chemical compound, which is commercially available, is used widely in fertilizers and explosives.
The prime minister likened the explosion to the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. ““I’ve never seen such a big destruction. This is a national calamity, this is a disaster for Lebanon.”
The governor of #Beirut just compared the explosion to Hiroshima and Nagasaki pic.twitter.com/0KtwJ5QG0c
— darasal (@darrassal) August 4, 2020
Residents recording video of the explosion are heard screaming in fear, yelling at others nearby to hide and attempting to dash away from the cloud.
Those who recorded video from their building apartments are heard being knocked down by the force of the blast and the glass from the windows shattering.
In another video, filmed inside a car driving towards the site, footage shows the car abruptly stopping and the device filming the video thrown next to the radio. It’s unclear what happened to the person in the car.
Dash cam footage of #Beirut explosion pic.twitter.com/Ctsg7aHDG7
— Beastbahi (@beastbahi) August 4, 2020
Aerial footage of the city in the aftermath of the explosion, shows buildings ripped down to bare-boned structures, some haphazardly piled on top of each other. The streets are strewn with broken furniture, shards of glass and rubble. An orange hue remains in the sky — a chemical aftermath of the compounds that caused the explosion.
In video taken on the ground, alarms can be heard ringing throughout the city.
#Beirut streets now. pic.twitter.com/8mZSXTLNQI
— Samar Saeed/سمر سعيد (@Samarsaeed) August 4, 2020
According to Reuters, rescuers are still attempting to recover victims trapped under fallen buildings and thrown into the sea by the force of the blast. Many of those killed were port and custom employees and people working in the area or driving through during the Tuesday afternoon rush hour.
Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab confirmed that the blast was caused by the detonation of more than 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate improperly stored in a warehouse by the city’s port, without any “preventive measures” to protect it.
“I will not rest until we find the person responsible for what happened, to hold him accountable and impose the most severe penalties,” Diab vowed in an NBC News report.
The chemical compound, which is commercially available, is used widely in fertilizers and explosives.
The prime minister likened the explosion to the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. ““I’ve never seen such a big destruction. This is a national calamity, this is a disaster for Lebanon.”