Thread by @bellingcat

At about 6 PM local time today, a huge explosion rocked Beirut.

Using open sources, @N_Waters89 has reconstructed what happened and where.

bellingcat.com/news/mena/2020…

Despite some claims of explosions at several locations, we only identified a single location in open sources: a warehouse in Beirut’s docks at 33.901353, 35.518835.

We believe other reports were simply a result of the magnitude of the primary explosion.

This warehouse, which some social media users have described as “Warehouse 12”, appears to have been on fire for some minutes before the blast.

Indeed one video appears to have been filmed on a building approximately 40 meters away from this warehouse.

The explosion was gigantic, rattling windows 250km away in Cyprus and causing widespread devastation across Beirut.

A 3.5 magnitude earthquake was recorded in Beirut at the time of the blast.

Scores of people have been reported killed and thousands wounded.

Due to people watching the fire from their windows, many of those injured would have received lacerations caused by flying glass.

There were reports of hospitals turning away casualties.

https://twitter.com/GebeilyM/status/1290682987894525955?s=20

There has been much speculation about the cause of the blast, and some initial claims about improperly stored explosive material, but nothing has yet been confirmed.

We can, however, state with confidence that this was not a nuclear blast.

https://twitter.com/ArmsControlWonk/status/1290692019065507841?s=20

The exact cause of this explosion, and who was responsible for it, remains to be seen.

However, you can read our initial open source survey into this event here: bellingcat.com/news/mena/2020…