From the NEWS  : Beirut explosions: What We Know So Far

Massive explosions shook Lebanon's capital Beirut on Tuesday in a blast that has killed 50, with many more fatalities feared to come.

Health Minister Hamad Hasan said an explosion in the centre of the city had injured at least 2,700 people according to "preliminary estimates" and extensive damage, Lebanon's LBC television channel quoted the minister as saying.

Beirut City Governor Marwan Aboud said: "Beirut is a disaster city and the scale of the damage is enormous" and called the blast a "national disaster akin to Hiroshima."

Lebanon's Prime Minister Hassan Diab said that those responsible for would "pay the price" and appeared to suggest that the warehouse at the epicentre of the blast had been "dangerous".
"I promise you that this catastrophe will not pass without accountability," he said in a televised speech. "Facts about this dangerous warehouse that has been there since 2014 will be announced and I will not preempt the investigations."

The blast was so loud that people could hear it in Cyprus.

"I saw a fireball and smoke billowing over Beirut. People were screaming and running, bleeding. Balconies were blown off buildings. Glass in high-rise buildings shattered and fell to the street," said a Reuters witness.

Video was shared online of the moment an enormous explosion erupted near the Beirut waterfront, sending an immense shockwave tearing through downtown neighbourhoods.

Moments before, a fire could be seen burning at the base of a billowing grey tower of smoke, apparently from an initial explosion near the port area.

The major blast was preceded by a smaller one ten minutes earlier in the same port area of the city

Local media showed images of bloodied people trapped under rubble following the explosion, the cause of which was not immediately clear.

Hospitals called for blood donations and the Lebanese Red Crescent sent out an alert to paramedics, calling on them to rush to dispatch centres.

Early reports in local media suggested the incident may have been an accidental explosion of fireworks stored at the port.

A Hizbollah source told Lebanese media that the blast was unrelated to recent tensions between Israel and the militant group on Lebanon's southern border, saying there was "no truth in everything that is being circulated about an Israeli strike on Hizbollah weapons in the port".

The blast damaged balconies and blew out windows miles away, with the explosion heard across the city and some districts losing electricity.

SR News, Media Monitoring Team