Despite countless obstacles in the wake of a towering explosion, AP’s talented and resourceful Beirut staff responded immediately, delivering compelling coverage seen worldwide.
Tuesday afternoon’s deafening explosion tore through Beirut and shattered everything in a few terrifying seconds, badly damaging the AP bureau and the homes of several AP employees in the Lebanese capital. Three employees were injured in their homes by broken glass.
But despite the mayhem and injuries, the AP team sprang into action to deliver standout coverage of an event that killed more than 170 people and injured some 6,000, sending a mushroom cloud over the city.
An injured man walks near the site of the explosion at Beirut’s seaport, Aug. 4, 2020.
AP Photo / Hussein Malla
People run through debris in the aftermath of a massive explosion in Beirut, Aug. 4, 2020.
AP Photo / Hassan Ammar
People evacuate an injured person after of a massive explosion at Beirut’s seaport, Aug. 4, 2020.
AP Photo / Hassan Ammar
A Lebanese soldier, far right, checks injured men inside an ambulance near the site of a massive explosion at Beirut’s seaport, Aug. 4, 2020.
AP Photo / Hussein Malla
People come to the aid of an injured man near the scene of a massive explosion at Beirut’s seaport, Aug. 4, 2020.
AP Photo / Hussein Malla
A man evacuates an injured person after a massive explosion in Beirut, Aug. 4, 2020.
AP Photo / Hassan Ammar
An injured woman is evacuated after a massive explosion in Beirut, Aug. 4, 2020.
AP Photo / Hassan Ammar
Rescue workers help an injured man near the scene of an explosion at Beirut’s seaport, Aug. 4, 2020.
AP Photo / Hussein Malla
Smoke rises in the aftermath of a massive explosion at Beirut’s seaport, Aug. 4, 2020.
AP Photo / Hassan Ammar
People evacuate an injured person after a massive explosion in Beirut, Aug. 4, 2020.
AP Photo / Hassan Ammar
Injured people are evacuated after a massive explosion in Beirut, Aug. 4, 2020.
AP Photo / Hassan Ammar
Injured people stand on the street a massive explosion in Beirut, Aug. 4, 2020.
AP Photo / Hassan Ammar
An aerial view of Beirut’s seaport, Aug. 5, 2020, one day after a massive explosion at the site.
AP Photo / Hussein Malla
An elevated view of Beirut’s port area, Aug. 5, 2020, one day after a massive explosion at the site killed at least 170 people and damaged buildings across the capital, leaving many thousands with housing.
AP Photo / Bilal Hussein
Lebanese soldiers search for survivors in Beirut, Aug. 5, 2020, one day after a massive explosion in city’s port.
AP Photo / Hassan Ammar
A man passes a shattered building in Beirut, Aug. 5, 2020, one day after a massive explosion in the city’s port.
AP Photo / Hassan Ammar
A damaged hospital room is seen, Aug. 5, 2020, one day after a massive explosion in Beirut’s seaport.
AP Photo / Hassan Ammar
Lebanese soldiers search for survivors, Aug. 5, 2020, one day after a massive explosion in Beirut. The explosion flattened much of the port and damaged buildings across the capital.
AP Photo / Hassan Ammar
A Lebanese woman whose son was missing two days after the explosion that flattened much of Beirut’s seaport, cries as she waits outside the port to receive any information from the rescue teams, Aug. 6, 2020.
AP Photo / Hussein Malla
People remove debris from a damaged house, Aug. 7, 2020, in the aftermath of the Aug. 4 explosion in Beirut’s seaport. Rescue teams were still searching the rubble of Beirut's port for bodies, three days after the massive explosion sent a wave of destruction through Lebanon’s capital.
AP Photo / Felipe Dana
A man sits amid debris inside his house, Aug. 7, 2020, damaged by the massive Aug. 4 explosion in Beirut’s seaport.
AP Photo / Hassan Ammar
Fouad Armali, right, smokes a water pipe in his destroyed apartment, Aug. 6, 2020, in Beirut’s Gemmayzeh neighborhood, which suffered extensive damage from the Aug. 4 seaport explosion at the city’s seaport. The massive explosion tore through homes, blowing off doors and windows, toppling cupboards and shelves, sending the contents flying. Within a few tragic seconds, more than a quarter of a million people in the Lebanese capital were left with homes unfit to live in.
AP Photo / Hassan Ammar
George Abdo, 58, poses for a photo inside his destroyed apartment, Aug. 6, 2020, two days after Tuesday's massive explosion in Beirut’s seaport.
AP Photo / Hassan Ammar
Said Al Assaad, 24, poses for a photo inside his grandfather's destroyed villa, Aug. 6, 2020, two days after Tuesday’s massive explosion in Beirut’s seaport.
AP Photo / Hassan Ammar
A soldier stands at Beirut’s seaport, Aug. 6, 2020, two days after a massive explosion at the site.
AP Photo / Thibault Camus
The sister of Nicole al-Helou, who was killed by the Aug. 4 explosion that hit Beirut’s seaport, mourns on her sister’s coffin during the funeral in Sarba village, southern Lebanon, Aug. 6, 2020.
AP Photo / Mohammed Zaatari
Relatives and friends of the Kataeb Party’s Secretary-General Nazar Najarian, who was killed by the Aug. 4 explosion in Beirut’s seaport, carry the coffin during his funeral procession in Beirut, Aug. 8, 2020.
AP Photo / Hassan Ammar
Relatives of Lebanese army lieutenant Ayman Noureddine, who was killed by the Aug. 4 explosion in Beirut’s seaport, mourn during his funeral procession in Numeiriyeh village, south Lebanon, Aug. 7, 2020.
AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari
A man holds the Lebanese flag, Aug. 7, 2020, as he looks at the scene of the Aug. 4 explosion that flattened much of Beirut’s seaport.
AP Photo / Hussein Malla
Photographer Hassan Ammar receives treatment at a Russian field hospital during coverage of the Beirut explosion.
Photo courtesy Hassan Ammar
The staff encountered obstacle and after obstacle from the moment of the explosion. The phone network in Beirut stopped working, but staff quickly adapted and found that the audio function on the WhatsApp service continued to function. Staffers used it to let each other know they had survived and communicate about what they were seeing.
Journalists headed to the office to collect gear, only to find the bureau had suffered significant damage, with windows and glass blown out and debris everywhere.
Photo editor Hussein Malla and photographer Hassan Ammar ran in the direction of the smoke, reporting back that they were seeing dead bodies and wounded people on the streets. Ammar and Malla produced many of the signature images of the event, and their photos ran on the front page of The New York Times on consecutive days.
The first video edit – images of a destroyed street – ran an hour after the blast, captured by deputy news director Balint Szlanko (injured in the blast himself) with his cellphone and fed to London through WhatsApp. Early the next day, Malla took his drone over the blast site, capturing the first drone footage for any international or local news organization. In the following days, the AP had extensive coverage of the recovery efforts at the blast site and in the destroyed neighborhood and good live shots from several locations, along with robust spot and enterprise coverage off the news. Ammar produced an evocative series of portraits showing residents in the ruins of their homes.
AP senior producer Dalal Mawad reports from the a live position at Beirut’s devastated port on behalf of AP customer “Good Morning Britain,” Aug. 7, 2020.
AP / GOOD MORNING BRITAIN
In addition to Malla, Ammar and Szlanko, other Beirut staffers contributing to the urgent bureau-wide effort were: news director Zeina Karam, reporters Sarah El Deeb and Bassam Mroue, senior producers Dalal Mawad and Bassam Hatoum, producers Hend Kortam and Ahmad Mousa, photographer Bilal Hussein and camera operator Fadi Tawil. Arriving to reinforce the staff were: Rome video journalist Andrea Rosa, Barcelona-based visual journalist Felipe Dana, Paris photographer Thibault Camus, Geneva video journalist Nadine Achoui Lesage and stringer photographer Mohammed Zaatari.
The outstanding work was magnified by the fact that a large majority of broadcasters and other news organizations didn’t have a journalist residing in Beirut at the time and furthermore didn’t send anyone in, relying mainly on the AP and again affirming the value of the agency’s global footprint.
For their stunning coverage and selfless efforts, the Beirut staff wins AP’s Best of the Week award.
