a.d.'s of the port. was so powerful that blast that home as you can see. incredibly badly damaged on shore suffered minor injuries was in a state of shock when we spoke to had an ankle injury this is what she had to say. we were just watching a show on the next break taking a break from work and i hard at jeff hovering in the sky and because it's been happening for some time i open the window glass door and looked outside and the entire building shook and i was blown by i'm bleeding on my neck i think because i think it's claws on my neck and my ankles and i would have been seriously injured but a lot of people around me on the street where i live in they just go to maybe a christian dominated area a lot of people are bleeding there's absolute chaos here people cannot understand how to react to this situation this country's already being grappling with so much

good in the day i was filing a story on how the price of bread was doubled but how are these people going to deal with the situation now what do you find a buyer is ok i haven't yet met me but i haven't yet. i don't know if there are any casualties yet or not because i'm right on the my house but my entire house was blown apart there's nothing that i could actually pick up from there other than my phone luckily i found my phone and i thought my father thought * one does with me here on the streets right now also on the job trying to phone trying to talk to people and understand what happened all the journalists not collecting at the st paul outside the red cross a lot of people trying to go in i have a good managed to get to the building 6 because i don't know whether it's been bones or not just people around me leaving everywhere complete chaos i being you know one doesn't want to sort of talk about who's done this yet but this should be hovering up all hovering above the skies * over the love of the last 2 months you know so complete kill many were anticipating this but it's just such

a heartbreaking moment. it is just after 1700 hours g.m.t. hello i'm adrian fed again this is just era where continuing our coverage of the breaking news out of lebanon today a huge explosion has shaken the capital beirut it was centered on the port area of the city at least 10 people are reported to have died that is a number that is likely to rise in the coming hours and days. the blast wave from the explosion caused extensive damage to buildings with a large radius of the blast site itself of the cause of this stage is unclear though israel has issued a statement denying any involvement that off speculation between lebanese citizens particularly on whatsapp that the israel may have been

behind it the u.n. says that it has no information yes on the cause of the explosion a spokesman said that there are no reports of injuries among the u.n. stuff in beirut as of yet. we have no indication from our colleagues in lebanon that there's been any harm to u.n. personnel or facilities and certainly i hope that they're all ok and i hope that the people of lebanon are ok these are very worrying signs of explosions we do not have. information about what has happened precisely what has caused this whether it's accidental or manmade and so we will need that information to respond once we get that we'll probably try to express something further but at this stage our thoughts are with the people of lebanon and we hope that whatever has happened that the damage is limited and that the safety of the lebanese people.

will be interested. well here's the situation right now at the port in beirut as night falls this explosion happened. around 2 hours ago. it's clear that obviously had a fire continues to rage in the course area helicopters trying to douse the flames 5 slices on the ground also looking for survivors under the rubble of those mangled warehouses. in the port area our correspondent who's standing at the gates of the 4 reporting that. ambulances still to a place that continue to come and go but the fire burning obviously in several places. within the port area you can see the main seat of the explosion

on the left of the picture there where the helicopter now is is dropping its load of fire retardant and also fires also burning that on the lot on the right hand side of those silos which perhaps isn't surprising given the the extensive damage from that blast wave al-jazeera say to her as i say our correspondent is is that at the port area the senate what's the latest. well we're hearing from the head of the general security a major general of the brigade who are brought forward not too long ago what he has say is that the blood appears to be a little bit of material toward him anywhere. but what do you believe that he is 'd there that most of macnair know jordan and aware of how and they are who are much more you know got put on. your own.

security official oh. well maybe i'm not but is that correct but the world they call the bluff. now this is going to raise a lot of questions what was explosive material doing. they would force stored in the warehouse this was a massive explosion they've really been talking for the past 2 hours i felt that the rest of the city felt that there's been paying off in the streets ever since the last force of the law was passed but it. was sad because building cars were everywhere. and it's and it's applied what we understand about the security forces as athletes the hand people. and the health minister saying hundreds of people entered and i can tell you for sure that there were there has been a lot of casualties because i've been batting outside they record for more than an

hour ambulances coming over i think ambulances leaving the port on the top paying off the lebanese army pushing that through. calling people to move away 2 from the road people 2 * as people are afraid of. what happens what shook the probability 4 sell kilometers and kilometers away 60 to 70 phenomena people would 6 be that they say self serve part but say so in the head of the general security itself saying that this was highly explosive material so our. group of course this is going to raise a lot of questions on the political real feeling that they both sort of for the international community that these is rife with corruption that political parties

and not the government. but those that in the end. 9 of things the courts. 6 more questions. sylvia. who really wants the people of this country a lot of the police have lost faith in them so i'm now they've been demanding a new leadership demanding. new new faces to govern a country to say no i want to play one condom he has been run to the ground by the same political party it's been in office for decades so it's highly explosive materials caused the blast according to the head of general security major general abbas that were asking him who arrived to save us a short while 'd ago at least 10 people killed hundreds injured the lebanese capital. is in. people are on the edge on their phone so i've been overhearing their conversation calling their parents their brothers

their sisters their friends checking if they're ok so long for a chat konami's i don't know that much potential favorite places they report is not is very close to central beirut and very close to one of the main highways that leads into the capital. saying i can hear me. yes i want you to pick up on something he said about these explosive materials he said that they were confiscated years ago. and you talked earlier on when within the last couple of hours well we've been talking about corruption being a demick of support. yes adrian that is the statement that was made by major general ibrahim on close to it appears that the explosion occurred in a storage of high explosive materials which was confiscated for years.

so this is the head of general security it's a question many many will last him and we'll ask the lebanese a source who what was highmore both of materials doing as they report the head of the red cross also now telling the media ambulances from all reaches across the country are heading for a safe route the situation in his words is not normal when it comes to the damage and the interior so it's massive the amount of casualties i've been there for almost 2 hours now ambulances continue to rise because it's believed. but the one that. i was. reporting live from the force in beirut the scene of that massive explosion. she quoted

lebanon's internal security chief of us. who want to tour the blast site was asked by reporters about the course and said that he couldn't speculate but said the explosive materials. confiscated years ago were stored in a warehouse. at the port since he put in the says he rather let's hear now from the scene. who's chair of the refugees initiative at the american university of beirut he was a fair distance away from the city at the time of the blast but was still by the blast wave. really really very very very nice and i haven't seen. the civil war and lebanon israeli invasion descent as a summation but this is i think the biggest explosion that happened in lebanon up to my you know experience or knowledge i was outside beirut. not far from beirut

but overlooking it and we were shaken. and actually we've heard seconds before some kind of an air jet over the sound of a messed up. again another expert. we've heard for a couple of seconds something like like a stone down then when the bomb and from the images that. the damages are huge and the forest area i think the whole force idea might have been. you know demolished altogether and the radius of the explosion by talking to a relative. clauses were broken and the radius of 20 kilometers from the from the. so we don't understand yet. what happened but this is going to be huge and great. and we just pray that not many casualties. will be lost on

them like over over the sound of the messiah from think you know moving wheezing in couple of seconds and then we had the bomb like like 40 kilometers or 35 kilometers from overlooking beirut and we heard this very clear so i think we need to wait and see about this. the number of casualties but definitely within the radius of the port n.e.n. around there are definitely many casualties probably the workers employees people who work in the harbor of beirut will be will be affected clearly by this. services and they. buy the goods on a violent response particularly public. but i think i think everybody is going to. rise or best to to to do the emergency response to this lebanon is not

unfortunately is not known for having a very efficient emergency response aside from the lebanese that's close which is in a non-governmental organization but i'm sure everyone is going to go there and particularly the let's cross the army and perhaps some some years and volunteering n.g.o.s are going to go and help by the talks but those are equipped for this but again i mean i can't tell from only the images i see but this is this is going to be stretching the system more than it has going through now with the coronavirus response. is director of the advance institute for strategic assessment he was in his office in downtown beirut when the explosion happened. all of their windows were broken who had. it on. their home or doors where. broken ice was i mean this is something that is

on i have never said who or the area where this. practically every apple will hold off. and look at it will joining us now on the line from outside of beirut in sure if is hasan who is say a social activist. tell us about what happened with you today where were you when this this explosion happened and. i was very far from the 2 so it's not directly impacted by the explosion we've seen repeated 50 kilometers from beirut you had big building we thought it was from believed by the valley to and its side of the explosion is not that it really think that it isn't really i don't think we've ever seen something like that in the history of the country everywhere in lebanon even behind the mountain beans that

we appear to have of last august for the moment we'll try and get it back. let's just remind you once again of. of what we've been covering here down to 0 over the last what's going on for 2 hours now since this news broke a huge explosion has shaken beirut capital lebanon's capital i'm sorry beirut it happened in the port area in the heart of the city. well we know that 10 people have been killed the reuters news agency quoting. lebanese sources but that is a death toll that is sure to rise the emergency services still at the scene. the shockwave from the blast blew out windows. several kilometers away there were a number of gloss related injuries blast related injuries the emergency service is

really dealing with. an avalanche of casualties there at the moment lebanon's health minister confirming that have there has been a very high number of injuries. and in the last 30 minutes or so. lebanon's internal security chief abbas ibra him has been a lot for all of the blast sites and was asked by reporters about the course he said that he couldn't preempt any investigation but he could confirm that explosive materials materials the been confiscated years ago was stored in a warehouse there. let's go once speak once again to there's a hasan who is back with us on the line sorry about that we had some technical problems you were telling us that you you were a fair distance away 30 to 50 kilometers away but even then you heard this blast in

central beirut. yes indeed we heard it and. as if it was quite mean by we have also friends in combat ready for any of somebody's 100 kilometers or 70 kilometers around with them on thing leads to putting down from the calls and they still heard it and they also have friends and people inside that it's recording that they heard the explosion and they felt their building shaking so it's a really devastating it's an incredible size explosion i don't think we've ever seen anything like that and in the country and we are still hearing reports that think you have about the number of people who might have died in the movement but obviously this is an even number here now is an underestimation because there's too much trouble in the not on the board. to know how many people have been having killed but what do you make of the same from the general security chief that. the

blast i heard him he was it was caused by highly explosive material nor plosives the difference so these were explosives but it was highly explosive material that was being stored in the port area. ok so what we know what we've heard obviously nothing confirmed yet what we've heard from many sources including including the words that you just quoted is a highly explosive material the report many people are saying this is to be specific this is on your 13 night it is a very close with a complete chemical component that exists that is used in industrial explosions that also use been exploded. story in explosive devices. so what you would see as an explosive component right it's not something that is might be explosive it's something that. military. use it's put to use for

explosions so obviously there's a huge storage of that then this is as if you have a huge bomb that has exploded depends obviously on the pressure of the storage and all of that i'm not the expert but one thing that many people have reported and you can get from the words of art are but the general security chief as well is that the storage components have been or the material has been stored for a long time after being confiscated and one of the one of the things we just received in terms of obviously these are rumors but some of them are most hated and others is that this is a ship that 12 years ago was about to drown me the coast of lebanon and the material was transferred to the lebanese cause to the board so that it doesn't you know cause pollution or explosions. a and that a few months ago there was a team that investigate like went to inspect the situation of this of this bridge and found it to be dangerous but nothing was done about it obviously this is not

confirmed yet have any confirmed reports about that but obviously if this is a case of 1 being next to highly explosive chemical components then someone is sponsoring of that obviously someone the management of the port is responsible for storing such highly explosive material cost. so long and wonder why they would put a person among them they haven't gotten rid of them but also being stored in meter by order and presumably to pilot it something that raises eyebrows and other you know another sign of potential incredibly incompetent that is literally just him and his incompetence by the reason the mission that you know cause it could damage to the world that it was a disaster waiting to happen he say that in this stuff had been there for so long and was unstable. it begs the question why why was it allowed to stay there so long and why so much of it. if there was danger specific on it in the main event

of any the manipulation question when come through the port and they got them that only dr that i know i'm not and here i think it i don't have the facts but it's something if it is the highly rather than that thought for so long that it it shouldn't they should be dealt with but they haven't been dealt with than some people have been benefiting from that. obviously i don't know that for sure this is only speculation but this is how things happen which in that we have one of the more corrupt administration in the country and the location that. is a thank you very much indeed for being with us as a hasan social activist on the line from lebanon the lebanese red cross the head of the lebanese red cross says that hundreds of people have been injured and taken to hospital for treatment off the plaster day and the others are still trapped in the homes and the blast hit homes 23 kilometers away blew in windows and. caused a scene of devastation as we were hearing a little earlier and a few minutes we'll play you sound of a reporter. who was at home watching t.v.

when the blast struck and you can see the devastation close from inside her home but 1st of all i want to bring in i want to get how does it say the holder who we can see now zeta. tell us where you are what's happening there right now. adrian we are at the entrance of beirut airport you can see behind me the chaos ambulances continue to arrive continue to evacuate the casualties so far according to security sources at least at least 10 people have been killed but we're expecting that number to rise because we understand from the health minister as well as the lebanese red cross that there has been hundreds hundreds of injuries ambulances have been called in from across the country to help in the rescue effort it was

a massive explosion you can see the fire trucks also arriving at the scene to try to put out the flames that happened more than 2 hours ago we have been speaking adrian about how massive this explosion was how it was felt across the city a kilometers and kilometers away and how there has been you know. 2 as you can see the chaos it's chaotic scenes here outside of beirut ports a short while ago the head of one of 11 on the top security agencies major general about brahimi a visit to the site of the explosion and a statement he did say that it appears it appears that the blast was caused by a highly explosive material that was stored in a warehouse and that this explosive material was confiscated years ago now if indeed this blast this massive explosion that has taken away people's lives and

caused so many injuries if you can find 5 and below and. it was. highly explosive material was stored at beirut ports this is going to. raised a lot a lot of questions about the safety procedures and what exactly was this highly explosive material we all know that the international community has been demanding that the lebanese authorities clamp down on corruption at beirut ports as well as one of the conditions for the international community to bail out this country to provide billions of dollars of aid because they believe the endemic corruption in the ports really costs this country billions of dollars it costs the state treasury billions of dollars a year so they had of general security saying the blast was caused by highly

explosive material the lebanese president michel aoun has called for an urgent meeting at the presidential palace of the higher defense council the higher defense council groups the various security agencies levanon they are now in session. the president told the prime minister husain did issued a statement a short while ago declaring a national mourning tomorrow for the victims of this explosion this was the 1st day the country opened after a 5 day lockdown so there were many many people in the streets it was rush hour when the blast occurred and that is why you have so many people who were injured in the explosion not just inside beirut ports but across the capital glass was falling everywhere people were panicking people were on their phones wondering where their family their family were if they were safe if they were not safe and so there's

chaos on the street this is a city on edge a city that has seen explosions many explosions in the past and that's why the initial reaction of people was is this an assassination it was this a car bombing because the country is going through. crisis and a political crisis as well and in lebanon's history as has shown really every time there is political instability there were so there has been security incidents so right now the head of general security saying the explosion was appears to have been caused by highly explosive material which is stored in a warehouse at beirut port which is just right behind us but right now it's dark it's very difficult to see. but chaos in the streets adrian a lot of people really concerned about what happened. late this afternoon so if you can you can hear me tell us about that you were

several kilometers away from from the blast when it happened where were you what were you doing and then then you had this this difficult journey to get to the scene of the blast to record what had happened because of the chaos. on the way there. adrian it was late in the afternoon it was just past 6 pm and there was the spot. in the background which sounded like an explosion i looked in the sky and i saw smoke orange smoke and then there was this force that pushed us to the ground and then glass everywhere shattered glass everywhere it was so powerful people were screaming people were on the ground security i was close to the american university hospital so there was a lot of security there they were instructing people to leave the buildings because

nobody knew what it was people were concerned that further explosions will follow but i saw some patients being evacuated. from the from the hospital people had no idea what exactly happened what rocked the capital and. a lot of. people immediately speculated that it was some sort of an attack because like i mentioned this country has seen. political assassinations killings bombings car bombings over the years but it has been quiet for some time now. we have been speculating as well in the past 2 hours but 10 minutes ago the head of general security saying that it appears that this was highly explosive material highly explosive material that has taken the lives of at least 10 people and injured hundreds of others people are concerned people who are 17

kilometers away said that they heard they heard the blast that's how powerful it was we are now approaching the entrances of beirut port you can see the heavy security presence the lebanese army the lebanese security forces the ambulances trying to. evacuate. if there are any survivors it's still not clear. i spoke to a port employee about an hour ago i saw him leave in a state of shock he could barely speak. all he could tell me was that it was an explosion i don't know what happened. and he told me that he saw dead bodies and injured people lying on the floor he was clearly in a state of shock he couldn't continue the conversation so you can see hospitals ambulances still evacuating. casualties to the hospital another fire truck

leaving beirut ports beirut course is in the center of the capital it's. it's very close to the main highway that's these the northern entrance of beirut if you like . so the force of the explosion was felt outside. the beirut airport area central beirut all the way to the commercial district i can just give you an idea how people are were on the edge when it 1st happened a lot of them saying that the explosion was close to saddle heidi these residents here is the former prime minister his father was killed in a massive massive explosion in 2005 and the verdict there is an international tribunal has been investigating the case and the verdict is expected to be issued on friday so already the country was on edge there was really really concern in lebannon that the verdict will ignite a strife in the country because. he was the most prominent politician.

since the end of the civil war in 1980 was also the head of the muslim sunday community and the suspected assassins belong to a shia group hezbollah so you could imagine how this could inflame sectarian tensions in a country like lebanon and this is the verdict is supposed to be issued on friday so people were already on on their. on the edge they were immediately linking this explosion. to the possibility of another attack. but now. we do know at least from according to one of the top security officials in this country that it appears the blast was caused by highly explosive material and clearly it was highly explosive material because the lebanese capital shook. buildings. kilometers away their glass shattered people in the

streets they were crying. there was really panic everywhere it was very difficult to move from one area of the capital to another because everybody just wanted to get home as quickly as possible because they did not know what happened and they were worried that there would be further explosions so beirut was rocked by a massive explosion just over 2 hours ago lebanese security saying highly explosive material in a warehouse in beirut port confiscated material in the words of the head of lebanese security which is going to really raise a lot of questions authorities will have to answer a lot of questions on what this material was doing at beirut port how was it stored at beirut ports and whether or not it was stored in a safe manner clearly what we saw today that it was not. if the mother's body.