Massive explosion devastates Beirut seaport
Lebanon's capital has been hit by a massive explosion and shockwave that has left the city in chaos.
The huge blast in Beirut's seaport has devastated the area.
People have been killed and exact casualties are still being determined, but the country's health minister tells Reuters that there is a "very high number of injured."
Footage of the blast shared by residents on social media showed a column of smoke rising from the port district followed by an enormous blast.
Those filming what initially appeared to be a big blaze were thrown backwards by the shock.
Witnesses and security sources say the explosion flipped cars and caused apartment balconies to collapse.
Lebanon's state news agency NNA and two security sources say the blast occurred where there were warehouses housing explosives.
It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze that set off the blast or what kind of explosives were in the warehouses.
But a the port's governor told Britain's Sky News that a team of firefighters responding to the blaze has, quote, "disappeared."
Israel's foreign minister says that his country has nothing to do with the explosion.
