Lebanese Red Cross official Georges Kettaneh reported hundreds of casualties, people wounded or killed.
Beirut's governor Marwan Abboud called it a "national catastrophe" and the prime minister declared a day of mourning, according to CNN.
“It resembles to what happened in Japan, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That’s what [it] reminds me of. In my life, I haven’t seen destruction on this scale," Abboud said.
Tazama Hapa Mlipuko;
فيديو آخر - لحظة حدوث انفجار ضخم في مرفأ #بيروت pic.twitter.com/C62srAfTnx— وكالة شهاب (@ShehabAgency) August 4, 2020