Beirut explosion LATEST: Death toll 'rises to 145' as international rescue teams flown to Lebanon to help search

Ireland's foreign minister Simon Coveney pays tribute:

Pope Francis tweets:

Turkey's Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) is among those searching for survivors in Beirut.

Ankara has offered to build a field hospital and help as needed.

"We've relayed our offer to help" including immediate work on the hospital, and "we are expecting a response from the Lebanese side," a senior Turkish official said.

Members of the IHH group were digging through debris to look for people and recover bodies, and the group mobilised a kitchen at a Palestinian refugee camp to deliver food to those in need, said Mustafa Ozbek, an Istanbul-based official from the group.

"We are providing assistance with one ambulance to transfer patients. We may provide help according to the needs of the hospital," he said. 

Lebanon has begun three days of mourning as rescuers searched for victims of an enormous blast that killed at least 100 and injured 4,000 sending shockwaves through Beirut:

Footage of the explosion shows an enormous mushroom cloud rising above the city near the harbour on Tuesday evening:

Donald Trump has described a massive explosion in Beirut as a “terrible attack” despite there being no evidence currently suggesting the blast was intentional:

Beirut death toll expected to rise:

Lebanese rescue workers dug through rubble on Wednesday looking for survivors after a massive warehouse explosion sent a devastating blast wave across Beirut, killing at least 100 people and injuring nearly 4,000.

Officials said the toll was expected to rise after the blast at port warehouses that stored highly explosive material. The explosion was the most powerful ever to rip through Beirut, a city still scarred by civil war three decades ago and reeling from an economic meltdown and a surge in coronavirus infections.

President Michel Aoun said 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, used in fertilisers and bombs, had been stored for six years at the port without safety measures. He called it "unacceptable".

An official source familiar with preliminary investigations blamed the incident on negligence. Ordinary Lebanese directed anger at politicians who have overseen decades of state corruption and bad governance that plunged the nation into financial crisis.

"It's like a war zone. I'm speechless," Beirut's mayor, Jamal Itani, told Reuters while inspecting damage he estimated ran into billions of dollars. "This is a catastrophe for Beirut and Lebanon."

The head of Lebanon's Red Cross, George Kettani, said at least 100 people had been killed. "We are still sweeping the area. There could still be victims. I hope not," he said.

More international aid:

International aid is heading to Beirut, with Poland sending a team of about 50 firefighters, including 39 rescuers with 4 dogs and a chemical rescue module.

A Greek military transport plane is heading to Lebanon with a search and rescue team with specialized equipment and a sniffer dog, while Cyprus says it will be sending help.

Pope Francis has offered prayers for the victims, their families, and for Lebanon after the enormous explosion in Beirut's port on Tuesday.

The pontiff appealed that ''through the dedication of all the social, political and religious elements," Lebanon "might face this extremely tragic and painful moment and, with the help of the international community, overcome the grave crisis they are experiencing."

Officials have linked Tuesday's explosion to some 2,750 tonnes of confiscated ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse at Beirut's port: