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Thursday, more than a month after a major bombing disaster Beirut, A fire in a port in the Lebanese capital has triggered thick smoke.
Video and pictures posted online showed flames jumping into a black smoke column in almost the same area 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded Become. 4. Other images caught a vortex of smoke that rose in the sky and hung in the clouds before spreading across the city.
It was not immediately clear what caused the fire.
However, the director general of the port of Beirut told the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation that a fire broke out in the building of a company that imports frying oil. Then it spread to rubber tires, he said.
The governor of Beirut told residents to evacuate the streets and warned live on the LBC.
Meanwhile, efforts to put out the fire are underway, with military helicopters taking part, a Lebanese military spokesman told the broadcaster. Photos showed firefighters putting out the fire.
At 1pm local time (6am and ET) news of the fire began to spread on social media. Three hours later, Director General of Civil Defense Brig. General Raymond Qatar told the LBC the fire was contained, but more time was needed to put out the blaze.
Beirut residents are on the edge after the massive bombing 191 people were killed And 6,000 people were injured. It was considered one of the largest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded.
A video circulated on social media showed workers fleeing the port. You can hear the shouts of “Let’s go, let’s go” in Arabic.
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The event will evoke painful memories of the bombing of port workers and emergency responders last month. Ten firefighters were killed in the August blast.
Michael El Moussi, 39, told NBC News a mile away from the fire, which appeared to be ash falling from the sky.
The mask he wore to protect himself from the corona virus acted as a shield against debris, he said.
“The sky was dark above us,” he said on the phone from the city.
El Moussi is now an issue in emergencies where it is difficult to believe who or what.
“When you lose faith in the government, what can we do?” he said.
When last month’s eruption devastated the city of Beirut, killing dozens and leaving thousands homeless, Lebanon was already reeling under the weight of an economic crisis.
In the aftermath of the bombing, public anger once again boiled over, provoking the collapse of the government, which many blamed for chronic mismanagement and corruption, which is widely believed to have helped the explosion happen in the first place.
Professor Najat Saliba specializes in Atmospheric Chemistry Warned Elderly and children in Beirut should protect themselves from smoking as much as possible or leave the city.
Matthew Mulligan Contributed.
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