Dozens killed, thousands wounded in Beirut blast: Live updateshttps://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/huge-explosion-rocks-lebanon-capital-beirut-live-updates-200804163620414.htmlLebanese Health Minister Hassan Hamad says more than 25 people have been killed and more than 2,500 are wounded.
"It is a disaster in every sense of the word," Hamad said in an interview with several television channels while visiting a hospital in the Lebanese capital.
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Secretary General of Lebanese Kataeb Party among the deadAmong the dead is the Secretary General of the Lebanese Kataeb Party, the party has announced.
The headquarters of the Kataeb Party, one of the oldest parties in the country, is located right next to the port.
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Dozens of people being turned away from hospitalDozens of people are trying to enter a hospital in Beirut and are being turned away, Al Jazeera's Timour Azhari said.
"People are discussing about which hospital they can get to across the city. This hospital, the Hotel-Dieu hospital has formally announced that people should stop coming here."
"There are corridors lined with wounded, bloody people," Azhari said.
"There are people crying. The hospital itself has sustained damage; its ceiling looks very precarious, it looks like it's going to fall apart."
... "Ambulances have been called from across the country to help in the rescue effort. It was a massive explosion; you can see the fire trucks arriving at the scene trying to put out the flame.
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Ammonium nitrate stored in the port: Interior MinisterThe Lebanese Interior Minister has said that ammonium nitrate was stored in the port, which is what caused the explosion, local media reported.
He said Lebanese customs should be asked about why it was there.
Lebanon-based broadcaster Mayadeen cited the country's customs director saying tonnes of nitrate exploded.
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'Cars were thrown three floors up onto roofs of factories': Al Jazeera correspondentAl Jazeera's Timour Azhari reaching the Beirut port shortly after the explosion, said the site looks like a "wasteland" with debris seen everywhere.
"Cars [from the ground] were thrown three floors up onto roofs of factories here," Azhari said.
"Rescue services have not been able to reach the actual site of the explosion yet because fires are still raging. Helicopters are circling the area trying to extinguish the fire," Azhari said.
Azhari spoke to the captain of an Italian civilian ship, the Orient Queen, that was docked near the blast site.
"He was covered in blood after the explosion threw him across a room of his ship. Several people on board were wounded and taken to hospital.
"It really was an incredible explosion. People here are saying that they have never seen anything like it.
Even on the way here the roads were covered in glass," Azhari said.
Pictureshttps://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/pictures-lebanon-capital-beirut-shaken-massive-explosion-200804162150133.html
