BEIRUT: The blasts that tore through Lebanon's capital with the force of an earthquake, killing at least 100 people and injuring more than 4,000 others, resulted from the ignition of a huge depot of ammonium nitrate at Beirut's port, officials say, but many questions remain.
Here is what we know so far:
WHAT HAPPENED?
An initial large explosion in the port area of Beirut took place around 6pm local time (11pm, Singapore time) on Tuesday (Aug 4), resulting in a fire, several small blasts and then a larger explosion that flattened the harbour front and surrounding buildings.
Seismologists measured the event, which blew out windows at the city's international airport 9km away, as the equivalent of a 3.3-magnitude earthquake.
Video stills show an intense blazing fireball rising above a line of massive storage silos, then a billowing cloud towering into the sky as a powerful shockwave ripped through Lebanon's biggest city.
WHY SUCH A BIG BLAST?
Lebanon's Prime Minister Hassan Diab said 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, an agricultural fertiliser, stored in a port-side warehouse had blown up, sparking "a disaster in every sense of the word".
Ammonium nitrate is an odourless crystalline substance that has been the cause of numerous industrial explosions over the decades.
READ: Ammonium nitrate: Fertiliser behind many industrial accidents
When combined with fuel oils, it creates a potent explosive widely used in the construction industry, but also by insurgent groups such as the Taliban for improvised explosive devices.
Lebanon's General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim said the material had been confiscated years earlier and stored in the warehouse, located close to Beirut's shopping and nightlife districts.
WAS IT DELIBERATE?
There has been no indication from Lebanese officials that the explosions were caused deliberately.
US President Donald Trump said late on Tuesday that US generals had told him the explosions appeared to have been caused by a "bomb of some kind".
"It looks like a terrible attack," Trump said.
But a Pentagon spokesman, when asked about the US president's remarks, told AFP that "we don't have anything for you" and "you will have to reach out to the White House for clarification".
Diab's government described the circumstances at the port that led to the explosion as "unacceptable" and vowed to investigate.
HOW MANY CASUALTIES?
The blasts killed at least 100 people and injured more than 4,000 others, the Lebanese Red Cross said on Wednesday, in the latest updated toll.
READ: Utter devastation as death toll from Beirut blast tops 100; rescuers search for survivors
Search and rescue teams were still sifting through areas surrounding the port, it added, with rubble from flattened buildings spread across a wide area.
Injuries were recorded right across the city, with glass blown out of buildings in multiple districts.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Lebanon's national defence council has declared Beirut a disaster zone and Diab has appealed to Lebanon's allies to "stand by" the country and send aid.
READ: World offers support, condolences to Lebanon after devastating blasts
READ: No reports of Singaporeans affected by Beirut blasts: MFA
President Michel Aoun has announced he will release 100 billion lira (US$66 million) of emergency funds.
But the country is in the middle of an enormous economic crisis and its hospitals are already overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic.
The US, France, Qatar, Iran and Israel are among the countries that have offered to send aid.
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2020-08-05 09:53:23Z
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