translated from Spanish: [VIDEO] Lebanese health minister reported 60 dead and more than 3,000 injured after huge explosion in Beirut

A huge explosion shook downtown Beirut on Tuesday, destroying much of the harbor, damaging buildings, and breaking windows and doors as a huge cloud of fungus-shaped smoke soared over the city. At least 60 people died and more than 3,000 were injured, authorities reported and added that bodies are buried under the rubble. Hours later, ambulances continued to transport the wounded as army helicopters helped fight fires at the port. The sudden devastation overwhelmed a country already grappling with the coronavirus pandemic and an economic crisis. Beirut hospitals quickly exceeded capacity, called for blood supplies and generators to keep running. The cause of the explosion, which caused fires, overturned cars and smashed windows and doors, is unknown at the moment. Abbas Ibrahim, director of Lebanese General Security, said it may have been caused by highly explosive material that was confiscated from a ship some time ago and stored in the port. Local television network LBC reported that the material was sodium nitrate. Some witnesses reported seeing a strange column of orange smoke over the site after the explosion. Often, orange clouds of nitrogen dioxide accompany an explosion involving nitrates. An Israeli government official said his nation “had nothing to do with” the explosion. He spoke on anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the media. Israeli officials generally do not comment on “foreign reports.” The incident was shocking, even for a city that has been hit by civil war, suicide bombings and Israeli bombing. The detonation was heard and felt in places as far away as Cyprus, which is located across the Mediterranean Sea.Health Minister Hassan Hamad said the preliminary death toll was 60 and that more than 3,000 people had been injured. Emergency teams came from all over Lebanon to help and the wounded had to be taken to hospitals outside the capital. Some of the wounded lay on the ground in the harbor, members of The Associated Press said they were at the scene. A civil protection official commented that there were still bodies inside the port, many of them under the rubble. Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud began to cry as he toured the site, saying, “Beirut is a devastated city.” At first, a video recorded by residents showed a fire in the harbor that speled a huge column of smoke, illuminated by flashes of what appeared to be fireworks. Local television networks reported that a fireworks warehouse was involved. Then the fire apparently extends to an adjacent building, giving rise to a larger explosion.



Original source in Spanish