Two massive explosions in Beirut are believed to have killed at least 10 people and left hundreds more injured.

The blasts flattened much of the port in the Lebanese capital, damaging buildings and blowing out windows and doors.

Video footage showed a huge mushroom cloud rise above the capital, with thick plumes of smoke rising into the sky.

The Independent witnessed several injured people, their heads bleeding, being carried to hospitals on the back of motorcycles through neighbourhoods coated in shattered glass.

The metal casing of shop fronts were torn open, cars were destroyed and belongings from flats scattered across the streets.

Georges Kettaneh, a Lebanese Red Cross official, said hundreds of injured civilians had been taken to hospitals for treatment.

An evacuation of the area is underway as reports suggested many were still trapped in their homes.

It is unclear what caused the explosion, but Lebanon’s state news agency NNA and two security sources said the blast had occurred in the port area where there are warehouses housing explosives.

“I saw a fireball and smoke billowing over Beirut. People were screaming and running, bleeding. Balconies were blown off buildings. Glass in high-rise buildings shattered and fell to the street,” a witness told Reuters.

The aftershock was felt in the mountains above Beirut, at least 13 miles away, and was so strong it blew out doors and windows in buildings across the city.

The army has reportedly sent reinforcements to the port.

Israel has confirmed that it had nothing to do with the blast, following speculation that the incident was caused by a missile, amid a recent flare-up in cross-border tensions between the two countries.

It comes at a time of significant economic and political upheaval for Lebanon, with the country facing the worst financial crisis in decades.

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