A massive explosion rocked Beirut with the force of an earthquake, followed by a shock wave that blew out windows and caused widespread damage across the Lebanese capital. At least 70 people were killed and more than 3,000 wounded, according to Health Minister Hassan Hamad.
Injured residents flooded hospitals, pushing them past capacity. Medical officials pleaded for blood donations.
The blast, which struck with the force of a 3.5 magnitude earthquake, according to Germany’s geosciences center GFZ, followed a fire that broke out in the city's port area, based on multiple videos from the scene.
Though the cause of the explosion has yet to be officially determined, President Donald Trump called it a "terrible attack" based on the suspicions of U.S. generals he did not name.
Videos showed an orange cloud over Beirut's port after the explosion, which is consistent with a nitrate-related explosion.
The force shook buildings, which were hit again by the shock wave that blew out windows, sending shards of glass flying through the air.
“It resembles what happened in Japan, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That’s what [it] reminds me of. In my life, I haven’t seen destruction on this scale," Abboud said of the mushroom cloud.
Online videos showed a dark pall rising from the port, what normally might be expected from an industrial-area fire. It was followed by an explosion creating a massive white cloud that enveloped the area. A moment later, the shock wave hit.
The blast, which occurred shortly after 6 p.m. local time, was followed by the wail of ambulance sirens through streets covered in debris.
The Beirut explosion recalled the twin blasts that killed at least 50 and injured more than 700 in the Chinese port of Tianjin in 2015. The second was the more powerful of the two, equivalent to an estimated 21 tons of TNT.
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