Beirut blast: India to provide help, govt has sought damage assessment

Beirut blast: India to provide help, govt has sought damage assessment

Days after a massive blast ripped through the Lebanese capital of Beirut killing over 130 people, India has said that it has sought assessment of damage from the Lebanese government.

No Indian casualty has been reported so far while five Indian nationals have suffered minor injuries.

MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said that the Indian embassy is in touch with various associations to provide any aid needed.

'We have sought an assessment on damage from Lebanon.

On its basis we will decide the nature of assistance that we will extend to them,' MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivatsava said.

Tuesday's blast is believed to have been caused when a fire touched off a stockpile of 2,750 tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate that authorities left sitting in a warehouse for years.

The explosion damaged half of Beirut's buildings and roughly 300,000 people have been made homeless, city's governor Marwan Abboud has said.

Mobile cameras had captured a huge shockwave ripping through the city on Tuesday.

Watch the full video for all the details.