Beirut (Web Desk): The death toll from the Beirut port blast surged past 100 with over 4,000 injured, the Lebanese Red Cross said on Wednesday.
"Until now over 4,000 people have been injured and over 100 have lost their lives. Our teams are still conducting search and rescue operations in the surrounding areas," a statement said.
Rescuers worked through the night into Wednesday after the two enormous explosions ripped through Beirut's port as they wrecked buildings across the Lebanese capital.
The second blast sent an enormous orange fireball into the sky, immediately followed by a tornado-like shockwave that flattened the port and shattered windows across the city.
The explosions — which were heard in Nicosia, 240 kilometres (150 miles) away in Cyprus — were logged by seismologists, registering as the equivalent of a 3.3-magnitude earthquake.
President Michel Aoun said that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, used in fertilisers and bombs, had been stored for six years at the port without safety measures, and said it was “unacceptable”. He called for an emergency cabinet meeting on Wednesday and said a two-week state of emergency should be declared.