Beirut Explosion!!! *trigger - pics obviously*

The videos on CNN are horrifying.

I can't imagine what would cause that kind of destruction in one blast.

There's a video in the NPR article. I'm skeptical that it was fireworks. Not finished ones anyway.

Oh god, that's terrifying

Wow. I saw the original picture and was concerned. Then I saw the video and was terrified. I have no words. Praying for everyone in Beirut and hoping it was accidental.

Holy crap!

It may have been a fire at a fireworks factory that started it, but that's a detonation. Fireworks (black powder) won't do that. Explosives will. And by the size of the shockwave, a lot of them. The fire would certainly have set them off, whatever they were.

That was so intense and scary. I was horrified watching the first part of the smoke billowing out and then the explosion was amazing. So sad for everyone near that.

That was horrifying.

From the BBC re possible reason

As yet there's been no official cause given for the massive explosion in Beirut.

Major General Abbas Ibrahim, director of General Security, has told Lebanese media that the most likely source of the blast was a depot at the port, where highly explosive materials had been stored.

Two security sources also told Reuters news agency there were warehouses there housing explosives.

The director general of customs has been quoted as saying that nitrate was the cause of the huge explosion.

Maj Gen Ibrahim reportedly dismissed allegations that Israel was to blame, and an Israeli minister told Reuters news agency that the country had nothing to do with the incident.

Israel's Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi told a local television station that the explosion was most likely an accident caused by a fire.

I just watched a compilation of all the amateur videos filming the explosion happening live and it does look like the explosion was caused by the fire. Ugh, dangerous goods storage is never ever entirely safe even if you are very strict about the rules (not that everyone is). I guess we'll find out soon enough what the actual cause was.

Hundreds of wounded per the Red Cross. Terrible.

Fireworks components, fertilizer components, or other extremely volatile chemicals. In storage or maybe on a fully loaded ship at a port.

There have been a handful of explosions on this scale in port areas or storage facilities. In Texas, China, and Mexico.

How awful.

Just tragic.

Terrifying! I can't believe the person filming that didn't make a sound-- not a gasp, not a shriek, not a cough!