(5 Aug 2020) STORYLINE
On August 4th 2020 a massive explosion shook Lebanon's capital Beirut wounding a number people and causing widespread damage.
The afternoon blast shook several parts of the capital and thick smoke was seen billowing from the city centre.
Footage from near the port shows massive damage to buildings and cars, as well as people who were injured in the blast.
Exact casualties have not been confirmed, and the cause of the blast was not immediately clear.
Even miles from the scene of the blast, balconies were knocked down, ceiling collapsed and windows were shattered.
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A massive explosion rocked downtown Beirut on August 4th flattening much of the port, damaging buildings and blowing out windows and doors as a giant mushroom cloud rose above the capital.
Lebanese Red Cross officials said there were dead and wounded, but did not have an exact figure, just saying there were hundreds of casualties.
A civil defense official on the scene of the blast said his men had evacuated dozens to hospitals and that there were still bodies inside the port, many of them under debris.
The cause of the blast was not immediately known.
It was stunning even for a city that has been shaken by civil war, suicide bombings and bombardment by Israel.
Dozens of ambulances ferried the injured from the port area, where the wounded lay on the ground, Associated Press staff at the scene said. Hospitals called for blood donations.
Video from the area showed a fire raging at the port, sending up a giant column of smoke, illuminated by flashes of what appear to be fireworks.
Local TV stations reported that a fireworks warehouse was involved.
The fire then appeared to catch at a nearby building, triggering a more massive explosion, sending up a mushroom cloud and a shock wave over the city.
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Aerial video filmed on August 5th showed the full scale of the destruction caused by a massive explosion in Beirut.
Rescue operations continued as dawn broke in Lebanon's capital on Wednesday morning, hours after the blast which flattened much of the city's port.
More than 70 people were killed and 3,000 injured, with bodies buried in the rubble, officials said.
It was not clear what caused the blast, which struck with the force of a 3.5 magnitude earthquake and was felt as far away as Cyprus more than 200 kilometers (180 miles) across the Mediterranean.
Lebanon's interior minister said it appeared that a large cache of ammonium nitrate in the port had detonated.
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Beirut woke up shell shocked on August 5th, hours after a catastrophic explosion devastated the city's port area, leaving 70 people dead and thousands injured.
Rescue operations continued as dawn broke in the Lebanese capital, with the bodies of many victims feared still buried in the rubble.
It was not clear what caused the blast, which struck with the force of a 3.5 magnitude earthquake and was felt as far away as Cyprus, more than 200 kilometers (180 miles) across the Mediterranean.
Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab said 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate that had been stored for years in a Beirut portside warehouse had blown up.
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A Lebanese Red Cross official said on August 5th that at least 100 people were killed and more than 4,000 injured in Tuesday's explosion that devastated the port area of Beirut.
Rescue operations continued as dawn broke on August 5th, and latest video showed the scale of the disaster.
It was not clear what caused the blast, which struck with the force of a 3.5 magnitude earthquake and was felt as far away as Cyprus more than 200 kilometers (180 miles) across the Mediterranean.
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