New video footage of the massive explosion in Beirut, Lebanon has emerged Friday, shining new light on the devastating incident that has left over 150 people dead and is currently being investigated as as a possible bombing by the Lebanese government.
The video footage was taken on a cell phone camera from an office building approximately 600 meters away from Ground Zero.
In the footage, an office worker starts filming after the first explosion, which has already resulted in a sizable plume of smoke. Seconds later, a second, much larger mushroom cloud erupts from the base of the first fireball, hurtling towards the window.
Screams of terror are heard as the explosion shatters the windows of the building and knocks the person filming to the floor.
New Close Video proxi 700 m far from #BeirutBlast
the guy is alive and well now #Lebanon #Beirut pic.twitter.com/2qBgkhKiyr— ܡܐܪܝܘ 🇱🇧🇬🇧 (@Marioam79) August 7, 2020
Shad Rizk was 600 M far in his office building pic.twitter.com/0WlEgWz9Rm
— ܡܐܪܝܘ 🇱🇧🇬🇧 (@Marioam79) August 7, 2020
Lebanese President Michel Aoun stated Friday that the cause of the explosion had been narrowed down to two possible options: negligence or “external intervention” by a bomb or missile.
President Donald Trump spoke about the incident during a press conference this week, stating that U.S. military officials had reason to believe the the explosion was caused by a bomb:
President Trump was asked about the source of the detonation during Tuesday’s COVID-19 press briefing.
“Are you confident that this was an attack and not an accident?” a reporter asked.
“Well, it would seem like it based on the explosion,” Trump said. “I’ve met with some of our great generals and they just seemed to feel that it was. This was not a kind of manufacturing explosion type of event.”
“It seems to be, according to them, they would know better than me,” Trump continued. “But they seem to think it was an attack… it was a bomb of some kind, yes.”
