The Lebanese government announced on Wednesday that a two-week state of emergency will be imposed in Beirut after the explosion on Tuesday.
It says the country’s information minister at a televised press conference.
At least 100 people were killed during the blast Tuesday afternoon. The Lebanese Red Cross has reported that about 4,000 people have been injured.
The announcement of the state of emergency comes at a time when the Lebanese government has allegedly decided that senior officials from the port authorities, who have been responsible for stocks and for their control since 2014, should be placed under house arrest. It informs anonymous government sources to Reuters.
Hospital equipment, medicine and field hospitals were sent to Beirut from many countries along with rescue experts and tracking dogs.
It was a total of 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate that exploded in one or more warehouses at the port of Beirut, Lebanon’s president, Michel Aoun, wrote in a tweet.
President Emmanuel Macron travels to Lebanon on Thursday as the first international leader after the disaster explosion. France has launched a rapid reconstruction program to help the country’s former colony.
/ Ritzau / Reuters
