Scores were killed and thousands injured by a massive blast in port warehouses that were storing highly explosive material in Beirut on Tuesday.
“It is unacceptable that a shipment of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate has been present for six years in a warehouse, without taking preventive measures and endangering the safety of citizens,” Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab said at a defense council meeting overnight, a spokesman told a press conference.
Diab said he would “reveal facts” about the warehouse soon, but did not say what caused the explosives to ignite.
Speaking separately in a televised address, Diab said: “I promise you that this catastrophe will not pass without accountability,” local media reported. “Facts about this dangerous warehouse that has been there since 2014 will be announced and I will not preempt the investigations.” He added that those responsible would “pay the price.”
The Lebanese health minister told Reuters that at least 78 people had been killed and nearly 4,000 injured in the blast, while the head of Lebanon’s Red Cross George Kettani said the number of dead was at least 100.
A video I received on WhatsApp of the scalr of explosion in #Beirut, confirming it was at the port. pic.twitter.com/bIkcyfsi0o
— Bissan Fakih (@BissanCampaigns) August 4, 2020
The blast was so loud it could be heard in Cyprus, some 240 kilometers away, the BBC reported.
White House Director of Strategic Communications Alyssa Farah said U.S. President Donald Trump had been briefed on the situation. Trump later suggested a bomb attack was behind the explosion, citing briefings by the U.S. military, appearing to contradict Lebanese officials.
“I met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel that it was” an attack, Trump said at a White House coronavirus briefing. “This was not some kind of a manufacturing-explosion-type of event. This was, seems to be, according to them — they would know better than I would — they seem to think it was an attack. A bomb of some kind.”
European leaders and senior figures from the EU institutions sent their condolences to the victims and the people of Lebanon.
European Council President Charles Michel said on Twitter: “My thoughts are with the people of #Lebanon and with the families of the victims of the tragic #BeirutBlast. The EU stands ready to provide assistance and support.”
Janez Lenarčič, the European commissioner for crisis management, said the EU “stands by the people of #Beirut in these difficult moments” and that the Emergency Response Coordination Centre has activated Copernicus, the bloc’s satellite observation program, to help the Lebanese authorities find out what happened.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Twitter that “France stands alongside Lebanon. Always” and that aid was on its way. According to the Elysée, Macron has spoken to Lebanese President Michel Aoun. “We are deploying a civil security detachment and several tons of medical equipment,” Macron tweeted early on Wednesday. “Emergency doctors will also reach Beirut as soon as possible to strengthen hospitals. France is already engaged.”
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Italy “will do everything it can” to help, while U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the images from Beirut as “shocking” and said the U.K.” is ready to provide support in any way we can.”
A spokesperson for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: “The German government is shaken by the reports and photos [of the explosion]. Our thoughts are with those who have lost loved ones. We wish the injured a quick recovery. We will offer Lebanon our support.”
In a separate tweet, the German foreign office said: “Workers from our embassy are also among the injured … Germany stands by Lebanon’s side during this difficult time. We will look into what kind of help we can offer immediately.”
Five of the injured were “colleagues from our embassy,” said Dutch PM Mark Rutte as he offered his “deepest sympathies” to the victims and survivors of this “horrifying disaster.”
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Twitter that the Finnish embassy in Beirut was “badly damaged” in the blast. “My condolences to the relatives of the deceased,” she wrote. “Shocking news.”
This article has been updated.