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0 A massive explosion in a warehouse at the port of Beirut on Tuesday evening, thought to be caused by some 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate that had been stored at the site for six years, has killed at time of writing at least 145 people and injured more than 5,000. The devastating blast has destroyed or damaged half of the city, the governor of Beirut told reporters on Wednesday, and more than 250,000 people are displaced. Among the buildings caught up in the explosion are art galleries close to the port such as Marfa Gallery and Galerie Tanit, both of which have been destroyed. Elsewhere in the city, Opera Gallery, Galerie Sfeir-Semler, and Galerie Janine have also been damaged. The Sursock Museum, which reopened in 2015 after a lengthy renovation, has been severely damaged, says its director Zeina Arida: ‘It’s horrible to see five years of work in utter destruction – even during the civil war it wasn’t this bad.’
