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Officials said the death toll from the Beirut explosion killing at least 157 people and injuring 5,000 others was expected to rise as search-and-rescue operations continued for people listed missing under the rubble in areas near the port.
In the latest move, protesters in Beirut call for government’s resignation as authorities arrest 16 as part of a probe into the deadly blast.
Lebanese authorities have taken into custody 16 individuals as part of an investigation into the Beirut port warehouse explosion that shook the capital, state news agency NNA reported.
The Lebanese government has given an investigative committee probing the blast four days to determine responsibility for the explosion, Foreign Minister Charbel Wehbe told French radio.
French President Emmanuel Macron offered France’s support for the Lebanese people on a visit to Beirut after the port blast, but said crisis-hit Lebanon would “continue to sink” unless its leaders carry out reforms.
The US military is sending three C-17 transport aircrafts to Lebanon in order to provide relief supplies to the Lebanese people. French aid to Beirut “will not go to corrupt hands,” French President Emmanuel Macron told Lebanese protesters on Thursday.
The explosion took place at 6:07 p.m. local time Tuesday near Beirut’s port and central district, close to many highly-populated areas and tourist sites. Beirut’s governor Marwan Abboud told reporters that the explosion had resulted in an estimated $3 to $5 billion in damage.
A crater created by the explosion appeared to be roughly 124 meters, or 405 feet, in diameter — well over a football field in length, according to media reports.
Abboud told Jordan’s state-owned channel Al Mamlaka that at least 300,000 people were “unable to sleep in their homes.”
More than 300,000 people have been displaced from their homes. Authorities declared Beirut a “disaster city” and imposed a two-week state of emergency.
It’s still unclear what exactly caused the explosion. Lebanon’s prime minister said an investigation would focus on an estimated 2,750 metric tons of the explosive ammonium nitrate stored at a warehouse.
President Michel Aoun said the blast was caused by 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored unsafely in a warehouse.
All port officials have been put under house arrest pending an investigation.
Customs chief Badri Daher told local media that his agency had repeatedly called for the ammonium nitrate to be removed, but “this did not happen, and we leave it to the experts to determine the reasons”.
Ammonium nitrate is used as a fertiliser in agriculture and as an explosive.
