At Least 100 Dead And 4,000 Injured In Lebanon Blast

The death toll following an enormous explosion in Lebanon's capital city rose to 100 on Wednesday morning, according to the Red Cross, as rescuers worked through the night to retrieve injured individuals from the rubble sprawled across downtown Beirut.

More than 100 peope are missing following the devastating blast, Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud said.

President Michel Aoun appointed a committee to investigate the blast and present its findings within five days. He said the maximum punishment would be handed to those responsible.

Health Minister Hamad Hasan called it "a disaster in every sense of the word".

The explosion was heard as far away as Nicosia on the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus, which is 240 kilometres north-west.