Lebanon: The Prime Minister of Lebanon, Hassan Diab, announced yesterday the national mourning decree starting today in honor of the victims of the explosions that occurred in the port of the capital Beirut, Radio Rebelde publishes.
Some figures estimate that more than 100 people have died and that there are some 4,000 wounded. Among the dead is the general secretary of the Lebanese Phalanx political party, Nazar Najarian.
Damage to various structures and facilities is also reported.
Some thirty Red Cross units went to the scene and it is expected that as the rubble is removed, the number of victims will increase.
The facts
An explosion in Beirut yesterday destroyed the city’s port and its blast wave reached several kilometers.
The country’s president, Michel Aoun, ordered the Armed Forces to attend to the needs that derive from the explosion. He also called an urgent meeting with the Security Council and declared mourning today.
According to Telesur, the Lebanese authorities place the origin of the explosion in the nearly 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate that have been stored in a port warehouse since 2014.
For his part, the Lebanese Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, declared that he will not be “satisfied” until those responsible are found, while describing the storage of ammonium nitrate as “unacceptable” for six years without maintaining the adequate security measures.