A peaceful wedding photo session outside a restaurant in Beirut was abruptly halted when a massive explosion tore through the city’s port, with chilling video showing the moment the shockwave hit yet another newlywed couple.
The dramatic footage shows a couple in wedding attire posing for photos at an eatery less than a mile (1.2 km) away from the site of Tuesday’s colossal blast, which left more than 150 people dead and in excess of 5,000 injured. In an instant, the tranquil scene was transformed into chaos as the violent explosion ripped through the neighborhood, showering the newlyweds with broken glass and debris.
It is unclear whether anyone seen in the brief video was seriously injured, only showing the bride and groom, as well as the cameraman, Palestinian photographer Ibrahim Hasan Kitmitto, rushing for cover as the explosion erupts.
That wedding ceremony was not the only one overshadowed by the detonation, which is believed to have been set off after a fire at the port ignited some 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a nearby warehouse. In another clip obtained by RT’s Ruptly, the blast was seen wreaking havoc on a wedding some eight miles (12.7 km) away from the port, smashing out the church’s stained windows as guests fled to safety.
Yet another clip depicts 29-year-old Israa Seblani elsewhere in the city as she is photoed in her wedding dress, beaming with a smile seconds before the deafening explosion.
“I have been preparing for my big day for two weeks and I was so happy like all other girls, ‘I am getting married.’ My parents are going to be happy seeing me in a white dress, I will be looking like a princess,” Seblani told Retuers following the blast.
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