National mourning begins in Lebanon

Beirut, Lebanon's capital, is waking up on Thursday to three consecutive days of national mourning after a major explosion ripped through a port on Tuesday, killing at least 135 people and injuring about 5,000 people, reports DW. 

Several countries dispatched emergency aid to the country on Wednesday. Qatar sent mobile hospitals, generators and burn sheets, while Algeria will send four planes and a ship with humanitarian aid, medical teams and firefighters.

France's President, Emmanuel Macron is set to visit Lebanon on Thursday, while the World Health Organization (WHO) has pledged to send trauma and surgical kits from Dubai.

Meanwhile, Germany has sent dozens of search and rescue specialists to find survivors trapped beneath rubble following the explosion.

Finding lodgings for people is also proving a challenge after the blast decimated a chunk of the city center. The governor of Beirut said that about 200,000 to 250,000 people have become homeless due to the explosion.

Investigations ongoing

Lebanon's Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, has declared three days of mourning from Thursday. While the origin of the blast hasn't been unearthed, it is believed that the blast was caused by 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate. According to local media, the explosion was sparked by welding material.

Diab condemned that ammonium nitrate was sitting at a port warehouse for more than half a decade.

Lebanon's cabinet has ordered house arrest for the port officials involved in storing or guarding the material in the warehouse.

"It is unacceptable that a shipment of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate has been present for six years in a warehouse, without taking preventive measures," Diab said at a defense council meeting, according to his spokesman later briefing reporters.