Beirut reels from huge explosion leaving at least 100 died, nearly 4,000 injured

A massive warehouse explosion in Lebanon sent a devastating blast wave across Beirut, killing at least 100 people and injuring nearly 4,000.

An official source familiar with preliminary investigations blamed the incident on “inaction and negligence”, saying nothing was done” by committees and judges to order the removal of hazardous material.

The blast was the most powerful ever to rip through Beirut, a city still scarred by civil war three decades ago and reeling from an economic meltdown and a surge in coronavirus infections.

It sent a mushroom cloud into the sky and rattled windows on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, about 100 miles (160 km) away.