MASSIVE BLAST ROCKS BEIRUT
The Lebanese capital, Beirut, was rocked by a massive blast on Tuesday afternoon at around 18:00 in the city’s port area.
According to a BBC report, at least 78 people have been killed and more than 4,000 injured.
What was believed to have been a terrorist attack at first, was later denied. President Michel Aoun said 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate had been stored unsafely in a warehouse for six years.
Watch the Guardian video below of the actual blast witnessed from various angles within the city of Beirut.
An emergency cabinet meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday with plans to declare a two-week state of emergency.
A former explosives investigator for the US Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Tony May, shared his opinion on the Beirut blast with CNN after studying video footage.
"I’ve done a lot of accident investigations with the government, both national and international, and it is clear to me that this was a large amount of explosives or energetic material stored in a building that caught fire and that fire propagated to the explosives, causing the accident."
For a full report on the latest news regarding the Beirut blast, watch the ABC News video below.
Image credits: CNN