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BEIRUT, Lebanon. — A warehouse storing thousands of tons of unsecured highly explosive material has emerged as a possible source of the massive blast that ripped through the Lebanese capital on Tuesday, killing at least 100 people, injuring 4,000 and sending a shock wave across the city that damaged buildings and blew out windows up to 10 kilometers (6 miles) away.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hassan Diab said that 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate, which is typically used as an agricultural fertilizer, had been stored for six years at a port warehouse without safety measures, “endangering the safety of citizens,” according to a statement.

It’s still not exactly clear what led to the ignition that wiped out entire streets across the seaside capital.

Initial reports in state media blamed the blast on a major fire at a firecrackers warehouse near the port, that likely spread to nearby buildings. However, the Prime Minister’s account appeared to be backed by Lebanon’s General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim, who said a “highly explosive material” had been confiscated years earlier and stored in the warehouse, just minutes’ walk from Beirut’s shopping and nightlife districts.

As Beirut’s 4 million residents wake to the full horror and scale of the damage to their city, lives, and livelihoods, questions will be asked about why such large quantities of the dangerous chemical were allowed to be stored in the middle of the city without adequate safety measures, and who is responsible.

Immediate concerns remain with the casualties. Hospitals — already stretched from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic — are inundated with the wounded and while the death toll steadily rose through Tuesday and into Wednesday, the true cost of life may not be known for several days as more bodies are pulled from the wreckage and the scale of the devastation is realized. Relatives of the missing are scouring hospitals looking for their loved ones and aid agency Save the Children warned of children being among those unaccounted for.

The secretary-general of the Lebanese Red Cross, Georges Kettaneh, told Lebanon’s National News Agency Wednesday that at least 100 people have been killed, saying the disaster is “unprecedented and very large.”

The organization said it has set up multiple temporary shelters with food, hygiene kits and basic needs to receive 1,000 families who have lost their homes.

Lebanon’s Health Minister Hamad Hassan said Wednesday that hundreds of people have been reported missing and the death toll will likely increase. Four hospitals are out of service because of damage from the explosion, he said, adding that the health ministry has an emergency plan with field hospitals being sent from Qatar, Iran, Kuwait, Oman and Jordan. Hassan estimates that six to eight field hospitals will be ready “soon.”

The blast also comes at a difficult time for the cash-strapped country, which has been ravaged by economic and political turmoil exacerbated by the fallout from the Covid-19 outbreak.

Though Lebanon has only confirmed 5,062 coronavirus cases and 65 related deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, pandemic-related restrictions have further exacerbated the country’s deep and long-running financial crisis.

Violent protests have erupted over rising hunger and poverty, which has soared to over 50%, and scenes of people scavenging garbage dumps for basic necessities have become commonplace.

Power outages are common in the capital, compounding pressures on basic services to provide for the injured.

Tuesday’s explosion in the Lebanese capital resulted in an estimated US$3-5 billion worth of damage, Beirut governor Marwan Abboud told reporters Wednesday.

Prime Minister Diab has launched an investigation into the blast, saying he “will not rest until we find those responsible for what happened, hold them accountable, and impose maximum punishment.”

Ammonium nitrate is a highly volatile material that’s used in agricultural fertilizer and high-grade explosives. Two US tons of the chemical was used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, a domestic terror attack that killed 169 people. Following Tuesday’s explosion, the United States Embassy in Beirut urged those in the area to “stay indoors and wear masks if available” due to reports of toxic gases released from the blast.

However, Anthony May, a retired ATF explosives investigator for the US government, said that the bright or dark red cloud seen in videos of the blast “is not consistent with ammonium nitrate.” The telltale sign of the compound would be a yellow smoke cloud, he said.

“I’m not saying that ammonium nitrate was not involved in this, it may have been but it appears that there were other items in there as well,” May said.

The amount of explosives and the shockwaves created by the blast, May said, “is typical of what would be equivalent to a kiloton nuclear bomb going off as far as the explosive weight is concerned.”

“There was no nuclear material that we know of involved in this, but the shock wave generated, the blast wave generated is at equivalent to a small nuclear device,” May said.

Adding to the confusion of what caused the incident, US President Donald Trump offered sympathy and assistance to the people of Lebanon, referring to the incident as a “terrible attack.”

Three US Defense Department officials later contradicted the President’s comments, saying that as of Tuesday night there was no indication that the explosion was an “attack” and Lebanese officials have not called the explosion an attack.

Other world leaders, including from Israel, the United Kingdom, France, Turkey, UAE, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Russia and Spain have offered support and humanitarian medical assistance to Lebanon.