French President Macron Arrives in Lebanon to Support Nation After Beirut Blast

The explosion left at least 300,000 of the city’s residents without a home, according to the Beirut governor, while the hospitals are overflowing with the wounded.

At least 137 people have been confirmed dead and 5,000 injured by Tuesday’s explosion in the Lebanese capital, AFP reported, citing the Health Ministry. The authorities earlier estimated the number of those killed by the blast at around eighty people.

Officials previously suggested that the giant blast was caused by 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate in the city port. According to Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab, the explosive chemical material that detonated was stored at a port warehouse without due safety measures.

A man is evacuated at the site of an explosion in Beirut, Lebanon

Following the incident, numerous countries offered to assist Lebanon. The Russian Emergencies Ministry sent planes to the devastated city, bringing an airmobile hospital, medics, rescue troops from the airmobile unit Tsentrospas, and a laboratory to detect COVID-19, as the pandemic is on the rise there.