A WION report quoted Indian envoy to Lebanon Dr Suhel Ajaz Khan as saying, "We are in touch with the Indian community. We have advised them to remain calm. No injuries reported among the Indian community till now."
The Indian Mission in Beirut also shared its help line numbers with the Indian community to reach out for any kind of help.
Some local TV stations reported that the massive blast took place at Beirut's port where firecrackers were stored. The explosion released a shockwave causing widespread damage to buildings, shattering windows in different parts of the city. Though the cause of the blast was not immediately clear, country's health minister Hamad Hassan informed that hundred of people were wounded in the explosion.
Videos of the blast doing round on social media shows a thick smoke billowed from the city centre. Residents reported windows being blown out and a false ceilings dropping. Other media reports mentioned about people trapped under debris, and extensive damage, but there was no word of what caused the blast and who was responsible.
The blast took place just ahead of the UN tribunal's verdict in the 2005 assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed in a massive car bomb blast in downtown Beirut in February fifteen years ago. The UN tribunal is due to issue its verdict on Friday in the trial in absentia of the four suspects, all from the Hezbollah militia.