Beirut Explosions: 2750 Tonnes of Ammonium Nitrate Explosion in Beirut, 73 Killed, 3,700 Injured

At least 73 were killed and 3,700 injured following two enormous explosions that rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Tuesday. In a video of the blast, a huge plume of smoke was seen rising into the sky while distant buidings left shaken, sending the city into the panic mode. 

Officials said the toll was expected to rise after the blast at port warehouses that stored highly explosive material. The explosion was the most powerful ever to rip through Beirut, a city still scarred by civil war three decades ago and reeling from an economic meltdown and a surge in coronavirus infections.

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. He called it "unacceptable".

An official source familiar with preliminary investigations blamed the incident on negligence. Ordinary Lebanese directed anger at politicians who have overseen decades of state corruption and bad governance that plunged the nation into financial crisis.