The intensity of the blast at Beirut port threw victims into the sea, including many port and custom employees, as well as people driving through the area during the Tuesday evening rush hour. At least 135 people were killed, with the death toll expected to rise further.
Lebanon's main grain silo at Beirut port was destroyed, leaving the nation with less than a month's reserves of the grain, the economy minister said.
President Michel Aoun said 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, used in fertilisers and as an explosive for quarrying and mining, had been stored for six years at the port without safety measures.
Beirut reels after deadly blast
A massive warehouse explosion in Lebanon’s capital sent a mushroom cloud into the sky and rattled windows on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, about 100 miles (160 km) away.
Sources reported that a fire started in warehouse 9 of Beirut’s port.
The fire spread to the site where warehouse 12 stood, which stored ammonium nitrate that exploded.
Lebanon's main grain silo was destroyed.
Satellite image captured on Aug. 5, 2020: Planet Labs Inc
Sources reported that a fire started in warehouse 9 of Beirut’s port.
The fire spread to the site where warehouse 12 stood, which stored ammonium nitrate that exploded.
Lebanon's main grain silo was destroyed.
Satellite image captured on Aug. 5, 2020: Planet Labs Inc
Sources reported that a fire started in warehouse 9 of Beirut’s port.
The fire spread to the site where warehouse 12 stood, which stored ammonium nitrate that exploded.
Lebanon's main grain silo was destroyed.
Satellite image captured on Aug. 5, 2020: Planet Labs Inc
Sources reported that a fire started in warehouse 9 of Beirut’s port.
The fire spread to the site where warehouse 12 stood, which stored ammonium nitrate that exploded.
Lebanon's main grain silo was destroyed.
Satellite image captured on Aug. 5, 2020: Planet Labs Inc
Initial investigations indicate the blast was caused by years of inaction and negligence over the storage of highly explosive material, an official source familiar with the findings said.
"It is negligence," the official source told Reuters, adding that the storage issue had come before several committees and judges and "nothing was done."
Beirut Governmental Hospital
200m
Karantina
Saint George Hospital
Warehouse storing ammonium nitrate exploded on Aug 4, shortly after 6 p.m. local time
Zuhair Murad Bldg.
Port of Beirut
Area of incident
Hopital des Soeurs du Rosaire
Sursock Museum
Mediterranean Sea
Hospital Wardieh
Al Marfa’a
BEIRUT
Gemmayzeh
Downton Beirut
Beirut Central District
The egg
Metropole cinema
Majidiyeh
Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque
Nimjeh Square
Beirut Souks (Shopping mall)
Grand Serail (Government Palace)
Mediterranean Sea
Beirut Central District
Port of Beirut
Karantina
Beirut Governmental Hospital
Area of incident
Majidiyeh
Warehouse storing ammonium nitrate exploded on Aug 4, shortly after 6 p.m. local time
Beirut Souks (Shopping mall)
Al Marfa’a
Downton Beirut
Nimjeh Square
Grand Serail (Government Palace)
Zuhair Murad Bldg.
Hospital Wardieh
Gemmayzeh
Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque
Sursock Museum
Saint George Hospital
The egg
Metropole cinema
BEIRUT
200m
Mediterranean Sea
Beirut Central District
Karantina
Port of Beirut
Beirut Governmental Hospital
Majidiyeh
Area of incident
Warehouse storing ammonium nitrate exploded on Aug 4, shortly after 6 p.m. local time
Beirut Souks (Shopping mall)
Al Marfa’a
Downton Beirut
Grand Serail (Government Palace)
Nimjeh Square
Zuhair Murad Bldg.
Hospital Wardieh
Hopital des Soeurs du Rosaire
Gemmayzeh
Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque
Saint George Hospital
The egg
Metropole cinema
Sursock Museum
BEIRUT
200m
Karantina
Saint George Hospital
Warehouse storing ammonium nitrate exploded on Aug 4, shortly after 6 p.m. local time
Port of Beirut
Area of incident
BEIRUT
Mediterranean Sea
Al Marfa’a
Gemmayzeh
Beirut Central District
Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque
Majidiyeh
Nimjeh Square
200m
More than 5,000 people were injured in the explosion and up to 250,000 were left without homes fit to live in after shockwaves smashed building facades, sucked furniture out into streets and shattered glass miles inland.
Roads were strewn with glass and debris. Cars near the port were flipped over.
A dangerous compound
Ammonium nitrate is relatively safe if uncontaminated and stored properly. But the compound, often used in fertiliser, can be dangerous when exposed to intense heat. Storing the chemical near large fuel tanks, in large quantities and in a poorly-ventilated facility could cause a massive blast.
Explosions like this are not unprecedented – three similar incidents in the last century involved large amounts of ammonium nitrate and killed hundreds of people.
Germany
Oppau
United States
Texas City
Tianjin
China
A city under strain
The blast was the most powerful ever to rip through Lebanon’s capital, a city still scarred by civil war three decades ago and reeling from an economic meltdown and a surge in coronavirus infections, reporting some of the highest numbers of cases since the pandemic began.
For many, it was a dreadful reminder of the 1975 to 1990 civil war that tore the nation apart and destroyed swathes of Beirut, much of which had been rebuilt.
The port district was left a tangled wreck, disabling the nation's main route for imports needed to feed a nation of more than 6 million people. Lebanon has already been struggling to house and feed hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria.
Sources: Maps4News; Natural Earth; Analysis, Research and Information on Accidents (ARIA) database, Ministry of Environment of France; Reuters; Planet Labs Inc; Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters
Additional reporting by Samia Nakhoul, Ellen Francis, Maha El Dahan, Maayan Lubell, Guy Faulconbridge and Josephine Mason
Graphics by Aditi Bhandari, Prasanta Kumar Dutta and Michael Ovaska
Edited by Jon McClure