BEIRUT: French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday called for an international investigation into the blast at Beirut's port that killed more than 130 people and ravaged entire neighbourhoods.
"An international, open and transparent probe is needed to prevent things from remaining hidden and doubt from creeping in," he told reporters at the end of a snap visit to the Lebanese capital.
French President Emmanuel Macron visited shell-shocked Beirut Thursday, pledging support and urging change after a massive explosion devastated the Lebanese capital in a disaster that has sparked grief and fury.
"Lebanon is not alone," he tweeted on arrival before pledging Paris would coordinate international relief efforts after the colossal blast killed at least 137 people, wounded thousands and caused billions of dollars in damage.
But Macron also warned that Lebanon - already mired in a deep economic crisis, in desperate need of a bailout and hit by political turmoil - would "continue to sink" unless it implements urgent reforms.
Public anger is on the boil over the blast caused by a massive pile of ammonium nitrate that had for years lain in a ramshackle portside warehouse - proof to many Lebanese of the deep rot at the core of their state system.
Macron visited Beirut's harbourside blast zone, now a wasteland of blackened ruins, rubble and charred debris where a 140 metre (460 feet) wide crater has filled with sea water. As Macron inspected a devastated pharmacy, angry crowds outside vented their fury at their "terrorist" leadership, shouting "revolution" and "the people want an end to the regime!"
"Come rule us!" one man yelled at the president. Macron told them he would urge Lebanon's leaders to accept "a new political deal" and "to change the system, to stop the division of Lebanon, to fight against corruption".
Macron's visit to the small Mediterranean country, France's Middle East protege and former colonial-era protectorate, was the first by a foreign head of state since Tuesday's unprecedented tragedy.
Two days on, Lebanon was still reeling from a blast so huge it was felt in neighbouring countries, its mushroom-shaped cloud drawing comparisons with the Hiroshima atom bomb.
"Apocalypse", "Armageddon" - Lebanese were lost for words to describe the impact of the blast, which dwarfed anything the country had experienced in its violence-plagued history.
The deadly explosion left dozens more missing and a staggering 5,000 people wounded, many by flying shards of glass as windows imploded. The death toll was expected to rise as rescue workers keep digging through the rubble.