Hamad Hassan also informed that hundred of people were wounded in the explosions. The massive blast took place at Beirut's port which released a shockwave causing widespread damage to buildings, shattering windows in different parts of the city.
Videos of the blasts 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. An Associated Press photographer near Beirut's port witnessed people wounded on the ground and widespread destruction in central Beirut.
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Some local TV stations reported the blasts were at Beirut's port inside an area where firecrackers were stored. The blasts took place just ahead of the UN tribunal's verdict in the 2005 assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
According to the BBC, the explosions was in the city's port area, with videos and local media showing a billowing mushroom cloud, people trapped under debris, and extensive damage, but there was no word of what caused the blast and who was responsible.
A witness described the blast as "defeaning". There were reports of another explosion at the Hariri residence in the city but no official confirmation.
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. Hariri was assassinated in a massive car bomb blast in downtown Beirut in February 2005.
The popular Sunni businessman-turned-politician's death soon led to a wave of protests - the "Cedar Revolution" - that ultimately forced Syria to wind up its long-standing military presence in Lebanon.