‘Like Hiroshima or Nagasaki’: Pictures, videos show devastation across Beirut

Footage shows a huge mushroom cloud over Lebanon's capital after explosions at port; photos record immense damage, injured being pulled from the wreckage

By ToI Staff 4 August 2020, 10:03 pm
Wounded people walk near the site of an explosion at the port in the Lebanese capital Beirut on August 4, 2020 (STR / AFP)
A picture shows the scene of an explosion near the the port in the Lebanese capital Beirut on August 4, 2020. (STR / AFP)
A man reacts at the scene of an explosion at the port in Lebanon's capital Beirut on August 4, 2020 (IBRAHIM AMRO / AFP)
helicopter puts out a fire at the scene of an explosion at the port of Lebanon's capital Beirut on August 4, 2020. (STR / AFP)
A wounded man is helped by a fireman near the scene of an explosion in Beirut on August 4, 2020. (ANWAR AMRO / AFP)
A picture shows the scene of an explosion at the port in the Lebanese capital Beirut on August 4, 2020. (STR / AFP)
Lebanese army soldiers stand while behind a helicopter puts out a fire at the scene of an explosion at the port of Lebanon's capital Beirut on August 4, 2020. (STR / AFP)
A picture shows the scene of an explosion in Beirut on August 4, 2020. (Anwar AMRO / AFP)
A picture shows the scene of an explosion at the port in the Lebanese capital Beirut on August 4, 2020. (STR / AFP)

A giant mushroom cloud rose above Beirut on Tuesday following massive explosions at its port, which devastated buildings across Lebanon’s capital and injured dozens. Miles from the scene of the blasts, balconies were knocked down, ceilings collapsed and windows were shattered.

Witnesses saw many people injured by flying glass and debris. Dazed injured residents, their faces and bodies caked with blood, meandered through the smoldering wreckage, aided by passersby and medics. The number of wounded was not immediately clear.

Videos of the explosion quickly proliferated across social media and pictures showed the breadth of the carnage across the city.

“This reminds me of what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” said Beirut Governor Marwan Aboud. “I have never seen such widespread destruction. This is a national catastrophe. This is a disaster for Lebanon. We’re already living through days where we can barely keep going.”

“And now this…I don’t know how we’re going to recover from this,” Aboud told Sky News, before bursting into tears.

The blast was attributed by local media reports to fireworks or other explosive materials stored in warehouses along the port. Israel denied any involvement amid tensions with the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terrorist group, which also indicated it was an accident rather than a deliberate attack.

https://cdn.jwplayer.com/previews/qcFjySu2-U4CTA3JQ

A destroyed silo at the scene of an explosion at the port in the Lebanese capital Beirut, on August 4, 2020 (STR / AFP)
The scene of an explosion on August 4, 2020. (STR / AFP)
A general view of the scene of the Beirut explosion, August 4, 2020. (STR / AFP)
Valarie Fakhoury, a British grandmother with her Lebanese daughter and granddaughter, stand outside the emergency ward of a hospital in central Beirut following a huge explosion that rocked the Lebanese capital on August 4, 2020 (Janine HAIDAR / AFP)
A wounded man is checked by a fireman near the scene of the explosion in Beirut, on August 4, 2020. (Anwar AMRO/AFP)

https://cdn.jwplayer.com/previews/M7Ypf8rx-U4CTA3JQ

People walk at scene of the explosion, August 4, 2020. ( Anwar AMRO/AFP)
A Lebanese man helps an injured man in Beirut, August 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Wounded people walk near the scene of the Beirut, August 4, 2020 (ANWAR AMRO / AFP)
Lebanese firefights extinguish fire at the scene of the explosion, August 4, 2020. (STR / AFP)

https://cdn.jwplayer.com/previews/8D3fEiI8-U4CTA3JQ

AP, Aaron Boxerman contributed to this report.

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