Moment Priest Flees In Terror As Beirut Blast Shakes Building During Live-Stream

A priest in Beirut was forced to run for his life after the blast from the huge explosion yesterday (4 August) tore through his church.

Footage has been shared online showing the moment the walls of the the church began to shake and crumble during a live-streamed service.

In the short clip, the man can be seen leading a service when the lights start to flicker and large chunks of the walls and ceiling begin to collapse.

The priest then runs to his left hand side, fleeing from the alter as the building starts to collapse.

The camera filming the service then falls to the ground and the video ends.

Many of those who had watched the footage on social media had sent their thoughts and prayers to the unnamed man in the video, with many fearing the worst.

However, according to a woman on Twitter who claims to know the priest, he is alive and well.

PA

This comes just hours after a huge explosion in the port of the Lebanese capital ripped through the city.

According to the latest figures, at least 100 people have now died as a result of the blast, with another 4,000 - at the time of writing - having been injured.

Lebanon's prime minister Hassan Diab has said the explosion was caused by 2,700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, which can be used to make fertilisers and explosives, that had been stored in a nearby port warehouse for the past six years.

These claims have also been backed up by the country's General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim, who blamed the blast on 'highly explosive material' that had been confiscated years earlier and kept in the warehouse.

In the clip of the original blast posted on Twitter, which appears to have been taken from a rooftop nearby, a large cloud of smoke suddenly erupted into the air as a deafening noise ripples through the city.

It was posted with the caption: "A video I received on WhatsApp of the scale of explosion in #Beirut, confirming it was at the port.

"FYI - this comes at one of the worst times in Lebanon's history, a deep economic crisis with more and more of the population unable to access food, health care. The general mood was that it can't get worse.

"Many people barely surviving and now more have lost their livelihoods, shops and cars destroyed."

You can donate to the Lebanese Red Cross, here.

Topics: World News

Dominic Smithers

Dominic graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History. Like you, Dom has often questioned how much use a second language has been. Well, after stints working at the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express, along with never setting foot in France, he realised the answer is surprisingly little. But I guess, c'est la vie. Contact us at [email protected]

@SmithersDom