AIRINC (Associates for International Research, Inc.)

The scenarios are eerily similar: Onlookers filming an initial explosion and fire, before a more severe explosion and shockwave sends them running and knocks them off their feet. Ammonium nitrate. Dangerous storage at an industrial port.

Warning: Links in this story contain graphic images and video. On August 4th around 6pm local time, Lebanon’s capital city of Beirut was rocked by a series of explosions in the port area of the city. The shaking from the second and largest explosion was equivalent to a 3.3-magnitude earthquake, and there are reports that it was heard and felt as far away as Cyprus, 240km away.