Lebanese officials said the blast was caused by a fireworks storehouse at the city’s port catching fire.
Dozens of people were wounded, according to initial estimates.
Video shared on social media appeared to show a large fire and detonations at a building followed shortly afterwards by an enormous blast that enveloped a broad area in a cloud of smoke.
The explosion sent a gargantuan shockwave across the city, blowing out windows miles away and sowing havoc across a large area.
Lebanese media carried images of people trapped under rubble, some bloodied, after the massive explosion.
An AFP correspondent at the scene said every shop in the Hamra commercial district had sustained damage, with entire shopfronts destroyed, windows shattered and many cars wrecked.
Injured people were walking in the street, while outside the Clemenceau Medical Centre, dozens of wounded people, many covered in blood, were rushing to be admitted to the center, including children.
Destroyed cars had been abandoned in the street with their airbags inflated.
A huge cloud of black smoke was engulfing the entire port area, the AFP correspondent said.
“It felt like an earthquake … I felt it was bigger than the explosion in the assassination of [former prime minister] Rafik Hariri in 2005,” said a woman in the city center.
“Buildings are shaking,” tweeted one resident, while another wrote: “An enormous, deafening explosion just engulfed Beirut. Heard it from miles away”.
Online footage from the Daily Star Lebanon newspaper office showed blown out windows, scattered furniture and demolished interior paneling.
Other footage, taken from some distance from the incident showed a huge cloud of smoke rising above the city and the sounds of two blasts in close succession.
The explosions came at a time when Lebanon is suffering its worst economic crisis in decades, which has left nearly half of the population in poverty.
Tensions have also been high with Israel, after Israel said it thwarted an infiltration attempt by up to five Hezbollah gunmen, a claim denied by the Iran-backed group.
The explosions also come as Lebanon awaits the verdict on Friday on the 2005 murder of Hariri, killed in a huge truck bomb attack.
Lebanon’s health minister: Blast caused ‘very high number of injuries’
The Times of Israel is liveblogging Tuesday’s developments as they unfold.
Lebanon’s health minister: Blast caused ‘very high number of injuries’
Lebanon’s Health Minister Hamad Hasan says the explosion in Beirut has caused “a very high number of injuries” and massive damage.
A security source tells AFP two explosions shook the port area of the city, leaving dozens wounded.
An AFP correspondent at the scene says every shop in the Hamra commercial district sustained damage, with entire shopfronts destroyed, windows shattered and many cars wrecked.
Injured people are walking in the street, while outside the Clemenceau Medical Center, dozens of wounded people, many covered in blood, rush to be admitted to the center, including children.
Destroyed cars were abandoned in the street with their airbags inflated.
An Associated Press photographer near Beirut’s port says he witnessed people wounded on the ground and widespread destruction in central Beirut.
Lebanese media carried images of people trapped under rubble, some bloodied, after the massive explosion.
The loud blast in Beirut’s port area was felt across large parts of the city and some districts lost electricity.
“Buildings are shaking,” tweeted one resident, while another wrote: “An enormous, deafening explosion just engulfed Beirut. Heard it from miles away”.
More videos are pouring in from Beirut, showing the devastation caused by the explosion at the port.
One video shows destroyed cars, shattered glass and blasted furniture on a street.
Apparently addressing rumors that the cause of the blast in Beirut was an Israeli strike on Hezbollah weaponry, sources close to Hezbollah tell Lebanon’s OTV “there is no truth” to such claims.
The size of the blast and the destruction caused in its wake has led some to question reports that fireworks stores were behind the explosion.
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