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More than 200 people are thought to have been killed in Tuesday’s devastating blast near the Lebanese capital, Beirut, the governor said.
Marwan Abboud said dozens are still missing, many of them foreign workers.
Sunday was the second night of violence in the city as police clashed with Protestants angrily over the government’s response to the disaster.
The dismissal of three members of the cabinet, including the Minister of Justice on Monday, did not stop the rage.
Fresh protests erupted Monday afternoon when Prime Minister Hassan Diab chaired a cabinet meeting.
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Reuters
Many Lebanese accuse the political elite of corruption, neglect and mismanagement
Mr Diab said the blast was the result of the detonation of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that had been stored safely in the port of Beirut for six years.
The decision to store so much dangerous material in a warehouse near the city center has been unfaithfully fulfilled by many Lebanese, who have long accused the political elite of corruption, neglect and mismanagement.
More about the explosion in Beirut
Mr. Abboud was quoted by the news website al-Marsad Online as saying that the death toll from the explosion had risen to 220, and that 110 people were missing.
He told the TV channel Al Jadeed that many foreign workers and truck drivers were among the missing, who he said made it harder to identify them.
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EPA
As many as 300,000 people were left homeless after Tuesday’s blast
The Lebanese army, meanwhile, said it was calling for a rescue operation near the port because no survivors were found.
Elsewhere in the city, hundreds of thousands of people live in badly damaged houses, many without windows or doors.
Officials have estimated that the blast caused more than $ 3 billion (£ 2.3bn) in damage and that Lebanon’s collective economic losses could amount to $ 15 billion.
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The country was already suffering from a major economic downturn before the explosion, with families plunged into poverty and starvation, and UN agencies have warned of a humanitarian crisis, with food and medical aid being delivered quickly.
International donors pledged $ 297 million (£ 227 million) in support of Lebanon at a virtual summit on Sunday hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron.
A joint communication underlined their concerns about corruption, saying that the assistance “should be provided directly to the Lebanese people, with extreme efficiency and transparency”.
The donors said further assistance was dependent on Lebanese authorities fully committed to “timely measures and reforms expected by the Lebanese people”.
