OREANDA-NEWS. The death toll in the explosion in the port of Beirut increased to 137 people, more than 5 thousand were injured. Dozens of people are still missing. This was reported on Twitter by the TV channel Al Jazeera with reference to the Lebanese Minister of Health.

A powerful explosion thundered in the Lebanese capital on 4 August. As a result, windows were shattered within a radius of several kilometers. The smoke from the explosion was visible for tens of kilometers.

About 300 thousand people left without housing. Half of the buildings of the administrative district of the city were damaged. Lebanese authorities declared the capital a disaster area.

According to the state bodies, the explosion could occur because of welding work in the warehouse, which contained more than 2.7 tons of ammonium nitrate. It was confiscated from the ship Rhosus in 2014.