“I live very close to the port. In my building, the doors and windows have burst. There are more than 2000 people with cuts caused by splinters. ” Exclusive report to the Platform by Karson Anderson, an American professor, who has lived in Beirut since 2017.
Luckily, at the time of the explosion, Karson, who has been a teacher at ACS Beirut since 2017, was in the mountains, 20 minutes from home, which is in the neighborhood of Geitawi, almost glued to the port of Beirut. I had left 2 hours before the crash, but despite the distance of 15 km, I could feel the earth shake and it was possible to see the smoke.
Who was not so lucky was Karson’s housemate Marlene Ghajar, who was in the apartment and suffered the impact of the explosion on her skin.
Karson says that in Cyprus they heard and felt the explosion. From Beirut to Cyprus it is 45 minutes by plane
According to what has been reported in Beirut, the cause was not a firework stored in the port. “The fire started and ended up reaching an area where there were chemicals. When the fire came into contact, the ignition caused the explosion. ”
Karson Anderson lives near the port of Beirut, one of the 3 largest ports in Lebanon. In the surrounding areas there is a mix of residential and commercial buildings, restaurants and shops, in addition to business buildings. Many of the buildings have (had) shop windows, which gives an idea of the amount of glass that shattered with the explosion.
