Fuel tank explodes in Beirut apartment basement, killing four

Agencies

A massive fuel tank explosion inside a building in Beirut has killed four people and injured several others, the Lebanese Red Cross said.
Reports say the blast erupted inside a bakery in the basement of a building. However, what triggered the blast is not immediately known.

The blast comes just over two months after the deadly port blast at Beirut on 4 August killed 203 people, injured at least 6,500 others and ravaged swathes of the capital.

Firefighters who reached the scene quickly put out the flames and helped residents stuck in their apartments to climb down ladders.
Reports said firefighters threw ladders against nearby buildings and scaling them to rescue and evacuated people trapped inside.
Lebanese troops deployed in the area cordoned off the area.

A Beirut television station said more than 30 people were hurt. "Two bodies and a number of wounded were taken to Al-Maqasid Hospital as a result of the explosion of the diesel tank that caught fire this evening," George Kitana, Secretary-General of the Lebanese Red Cross said Friday night prior to the discovery of a further 2 bodies.