'The scale of it was just horrific’: An Indian war journalist recalls the blast

George Kurian can still hear the sound of glass being swept off the street and the whining siren of ambulances speeding through the city. It’s been less than 24 hours since a catastrophic explosion left Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon, in ruins on Tuesday. More than 100 people have been killed and thousands have suffered extensive injuries. George, a war correspondent who has lived in Beirut for four years, was at his home when the blast occurred less than a couple of kilometers away. 

“When it happened, I really thought this was an attack of some kind,” he said, in a phone interview with TNM. “The scale of the explosion was huge.” 

Almost all morning on Tuesday, George, 45, had been sitting on an armchair in his home, not far from the city’s port, where the explosion would take place. While working as a journalist, he is also a documentary filmmaker, and he had been grinding through an application that needed to be completed for his next project. Breakfast and lunch had passed by before he realised he needed to eat something.

He walked into his kitchen to make himself a sandwich, and that’s when the roof started to vibrate. “The next thing I could see were kitchen shelves just smashing out. I turned around and walked to the living room to see, almost in slow motion, all the windows and doors just smash and just fly past me. It was crazy.” 

The armchair, where he had been seated only minutes ago, had now been buried under a wooden beam that was part of the house and had fallen in the blast. The force of the air was so strong that it seemed to push against his body. “It all happened within five minutes. I would say two minutes, but maybe that’s the adrenaline talking.” 

George, who is from Bengaluru, is no stranger to high-intensity situations in his line of work. He’s lived and covered conflict in Afghanistan, as well as in Egypt, reporting on terrorism and war from across the Middle East. “I’ve covered pretty much all the war zones of the past 15 years.” In Kabul, he would sometimes experience the reverberations of explosions near his home. 

“It’s not something you expect in Lebanon. The scale of it was so horrific, one couldn’t even imagine it. Even in the worst war zone, you never use 2,750 tonnes of explosives.” 

Read also: 70 killed, thousands injured in Beirut explosion likely caused by ammonium nitrate

George Kurian

Within hours of the blast, unverified rumours began to spread like wildfire. Some thought it was missiles that had struck. Others pointed to mounting tensions between Israel and the Hezbollah military group on the country’s southern border. Some said a fireworks factory was the root of the explosion. “None of them made sense,” George said.  

Lebanese officials have since said that the explosion was most likely caused by 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that had been left “without preventative measures” for six years in a warehouse. The explosion caused the force of a 3.5 magnitude earthquake, and was felt 240 kilometres away. It caused overwhelming devastation in a country still reeling from the coronavirus pandemic and a deepening economic crisis. The explosion has also decimated a major port for the country, and is expected to have a huge impact on the nation’s imports.

Visuals of the explosion soon spread across the internet, as did reports of fluctuating electricity, and hospitals struggling to cope with the scores of injured. Indian journalist Anchal Vohra was in the city when the blast occurred and tweeted that she was seeking medical help for her injuries.  

Realising what had happened, George immediately rushed to his balcony and could already see people on the street, completely disoriented by the powerful impact. As a war correspondent, he was trained in emergency aid, so he sped out to try and assist. However, he soon saw the scale of the incident. 

“There’s very little left of my house,” he said. “The whole house is just covered in glass.”

For the Lebanese, their history is mired in bloody conflict, and most still have vivid memories of the air and artillery strikes that killed and displaced thousands in recent decades. The blast, George said, has triggered the memories of what so many have had to live through. Yet he is hopeful that the country, the city and its residents will find a way forward, as they always have.  

“The great thing about Beirut is that it's a very resilient city. It’s seen a lot of conflict and it’s always come bouncing back.”