Lebanon blast kills at least 137, injures 5,000: ministry
Lebanon blast kills at least 137, injures 5,000: ministry
BEIRUT (AFP) - The huge blast at Beirut port has killed at least 137 people, left dozens missing and at least 5,000 wounded, a Lebanese health ministry spokesperson said Thursday.
Tuesday’s explosion obliterated part of the port and caused damage over a wide radius in the heart of the city, prompting fears the final death toll could yet rise significantly.
The explosion was the most powerful ever to rip through Beirut, a city still scarred by civil war that ended three decades ago and reeling from an economic meltdown and a surge in coronavirus infections. The blast rattled buildings on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, about 100 miles (160 km) away.
President Michel Aoun said 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, used in fertilisers and bombs, had been stored for six years at the port without safety measures, after it was seized.
He said in a national address the government was "determined to investigate and expose what happened as soon as possible, to hold the responsible and the negligent accountable."
An official source familiar with preliminary investigations blamed the incident on "inaction and negligence", saying "nothing was done" by committees and judges involved in the matter to order the removal of hazardous material.
The cabinet ordered port officials involved in storing or guarding the material since 2014 to be put under house arrest, ministerial sources told Reuters. The cabinet also announced a two-week state of emergency in Beirut.
