Thread by @Beltrew

Massive massive explosion just rocked #Lebanon. We are in the mountains and heard first explosion then the blast wave which literally pushed us fall to our knees. No idea. But there is massive mushroom cloud.

Absolute chaos in #Beirut. Shattered shop fronts, injured people staggering around, alarms going off, ambulances trying to get to hospitals, the floor is glistening with shattered glass. In all my years of covering wars I have never experienced a blast like this. #Lebanon

My flat is completely destroyed. Not just windows blown in- like door and window frames ripped out. The cats are alive thank god.

The blast ripped out double glazed windows and steel shutters #Beirut #Lebanon

Utter chaos outside St George hospital which has no electricity- medics are treating patients in the car park where the drive through COVID-19 tests were being done. It is now the ER, since the ER is destroyed. Patients screaming in agony in the background. #Beirut #Lebanon

The emergency room is now in the car park where they once tested for COVID-19 #Beirut #Lebanon

Hospital staff just shouted “stand aside coronavirus cases!” In the middle of the car park which is now the emergency room outside the gutted hospital where they are still pulling bodies out and injured. It’s a multi headed disaster here. #Beirut #lebanon

I’m walking through streets strewn with shattered glass in a black out - with injured people stumbling about and ambulances wailing. Hospital staff pulling bodies out of gutted hospital one of 3 out of commission. The damage is staggering - how will #Lebanon bounce back?

This is the entrance to ER of the St George Hospital in #Beirut. The staff were trying to pull their dead & injured medics & patients out of the rubble, treat the steam of wounded coming in in the car park and separate #coronavirus patients from everyone else. With no electricity

This @Instagram account is posting photos of missing people in the #Beirut explosion to try to find them instagram.com/locatevictimsb…

This was one of the busiest restaurant and bar streets in #Beirut known as Armenia street. It now looks like parts of Gaza did in 2014 #Lebanon

All of this was #Lebanon’s most famous street of bars, cafes and restaurants, interspersed with boutique art galleries & quirky flats. It’s just ruin now. So hard to believe this can be rebuilt #Beirut