At least 50 people killed, 2,700 injured in Beirut blast, health minister says
At least 50 people were killed and more than 2,700 injured in a blast that rocked Beirut near its port earlier Tuesday, officials said, per The Associated Press. Beirut's governor, Marwan Abboud, said the city, which is already dealing with an economic crisis and the coronavirus pandemic, is "devastated."
The cause of the blast remains unclear, but Abbas Ibrahim, the chief of Lebanese General Security, said it may have been highly explosive material confiscated from a ship years ago and stored in the port. Indeed, there are reports that Lebanese officials confiscated 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate from a ship in 2013 and stored it in the port's warehouses.
The ammonium nitrate line of inquiry making more and more sense. What a mess. #Beirut https://t.co/CygWJCmg1e
— Catherine Philp (@scribblercat) August 4, 2020
Experts have also sought to dispel theories that the blast was the result of a nuclear explosion and regard ammonium nitrate as a much more likely source.
This isn't that complicated, people. There is a fire and a secondary explosion. There are literally none of the phenomena one sees with a nuclear explosion. pic.twitter.com/OeT2ohd7hg
— Jeffrey Lewis (@ArmsControlWonk) August 4, 2020
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