Harrowing footage has emerged today that shows the moment firefighters attempted to break into the burning warehouse in Beirut…
At around 6 pm local time on August 4th, a sudden and devastating explosion ripped through Lebanon’s capital city.
Leaving nearly 300,000 people homeless.
But it has since been confirmed that at least 135 people have died, with a further 4,000 people suffering from grave injuries.
So, sadly, the death toll is expected to rise drastically within the next couple of days.
But it later emerged that a huge cache of ammonium nitrate, an explosive compound commonly used in the construction of bombs, had been stored at the building in which the blast had occurred 6 years ago.
And it was this fire that is believed to have triggered the explosion of the 2,750 tons of ammunition.
In a televised statement, Prime Minister Diab was quoted as saying:
“I will not relax until we find the responsible party for what happened, hold it accountable and apply the most serious punishments against it because it isn’t acceptable that a shipment of ammonium nitrate – estimated to be 2,750 tons – was in a depot for the past 6 years without precautionary measures being taken.”
It is thought that the damage repairs are going to cost approximately $5 billion – It is going to take Beirut years to recover from this.
And it is utterly harrowing.
And they are still listed as missing, days into the aftermath.
Who were all believed to have been either inside or directly next to the warehouse when the ammunition exploded.
The twenty-five-year-old female firefighter, Sahar Faris, was confirmed to have died yesterday.
And it shows the brave firefighters working together to try and pry open the door to warehouse 12 – the one stacked high with 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate.
Working together, the 3 currently unidentified men can be seen using a crowbar to try and prise the doors to the warehouse open.
With the photo being later found on his recovered phone.
Our thoughts go out to everyone affected in this devastating tragedy.