A huge blast at Beirut port that devastated entire neighborhoods of the city has killed more than 100 people and injured over 4,000, the Lebanese Red Cross said Wednesday.
"Until now over 4,000 people have been injured and over 100 have lost their lives. Our teams are still conducting search and rescue operations in the surrounding areas," a statement said.
The second blast sent an enormous orange fireball into the sky, immediately followed by a tornado-like shockwave that flattened the port and shattered windows across the city.
The explosions -- which were heard in Nicosia, 240 kilometres (150 miles) away in Cyprus -- were logged by seismologists, registering as the equivalent of a 3.3-magnitude earthquake.
Bloodied, dazed and wounded people stumbled among the debris, glass shards and burning buildings in central Beirut.
Around 4,000 people were hurt by the blasts, with injuries recorded right across the city.
Lebanon is already reeling from an economic crisis that has left more than half of the population in poverty. The situation has been worsened in recent months by the coronavirus pandemic.
Prime Minister Hassan Diab said 2,750 tonnes of the agricultural fertiliser ammonium nitrate that had been stored for years in a portside warehouse had blown up, sparking "a disaster in every sense of the word".
"What happened today will not pass without accountability," said Diab. "Those responsible for this catastrophe will pay the price."
General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim said the material had been confiscated years earlier and stored in the warehouse, just minutes from Beirut's shopping and nightlife districts.