A strong explosion in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, has left a large number of wounded and missing on Tuesday. The event would have started as a fire in a pyrotechnic warehouse, firefighters work hard to rescue the wounded from the rubble.
So far, ten firefighters, who are reported to have been working to put out the fire before the explosion, have been reported missing, Lebanese authorities have reported that the number of fatalities is still unknown.
Imágenes del puerto de Beirut. Qué pena ver al Líbano convertido en un campo de batalla. Oraciones por todas las víctimas inocentes. pic.twitter.com/QmRZUKoCk7
— Jorge Buxadé (@Jorgebuxade) August 4, 2020
Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud has called the incident «a Hiroshima-like national disaster», saying «It looks like what happened in Japan, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That’s what it reminds me of. I have never seen destruction on this scale in my life”.
For the moment, it is known that the Ministry of Health has ordered all the local hospitals to prepare to receive the multiple wounded, who are increasing with the work of the rescuers.
⚠️La Explosión en #Beirut ha dejado bastantes daños. (Líbano ) 04/08/2020. pic.twitter.com/SNM6tvU58s
— Sismologia Mundial (@SismoMundial) August 4, 2020
A CNN producer, Ghazi Balkiz, who is in Beirut, described for the media the situation of the hospitals in the Lebanese capital, stating that it is a chaotic scene, given the condition of the state in which the victims arrive “Some People had broken limbs, some were full of glass».
So far the causes of the massive explosion have not been confirmed, the city government has declared to the local media that they are working in the area “We don’t know. There was a fire, the [fire department] came to put it out, then the explosion happened and they disappeared. We are looking for them”.
Este video muestra una vivienda y a un padre con su hijo de 6 años en el momento de la explosión en su interior en Beirut capital del Líbano. #informando pic.twitter.com/rOhTXjnfC6
— Informando (@InformandoRD7) August 4, 2020