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'Hero' maid saves employer's child as blast tears through Beirut apartment building

On Tuesday (August 4), the city of Beirut suffered one of the worst disasters in human history, as a monstrous and catastrophic explosion at a warehouse in Lebanon's capital sent a shockwave of destruction through the city.

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However, as the world struggles to come to terms with the devastation and loss caused by the explosion, many videos and stories are surfacing on social media showing the true bravery displayed by many people throughout the city.

One person who has been hailed a "hero" by social media users is a domestic worker who rushed to save her employer's child as shockwaves from the blast tore through an apartment building.

As reported by the Daily Mail, the footage shows the maid vacuuming the carpet as the small child plays nearby. The camera can then be seen visibly shaking, as the pair are noticeably startled by the sound of the blast.

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Then, the blast tears through the room, and without a moment of hesitation, the woman grabs the child and rushes her to safety.

The clip of the maid's quick-thinking heroism was widely shared across social media.

Twitter user QueenHils5 described the employee as "an angel sent from above".

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Other Twitter users hailed the maid as a "hero", with another social media user saying that she "responded like a mother" to the blast.

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The Beirut blast: What we know so far...

Shortly after 6:00PM local time, a large fire could be seen at the Port of Beirut, on the city's northern Mediterranean coast, the BBC reports.

Videos posted to social media showed white smoke billowing from Warehouse 12, next to the port's huge grain silos.

After a large explosion, witnesses said they could see several smaller blasts that sounded like fireworks being set off.

Then, approximately 30 seconds later, there was a colossal explosion that sent a mushroom cloud into the air and a supersonic blastwave radiating through the city - leaving destruction in its wake. CNN reports that the explosion caused damage six miles away from the initial blast point.

The explosion was so large that it was heard 125 miles away in Cyprus, and, per the BBC, seismologists at the United States Geological Survey said it was the equivalent of a 3.3-magnitude earthquake.

Lebanon's President, Michel Aoun, has since blamed the detonation on 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that claims was being stored unsafely at a warehouse in the port.

As of this writing, it has been reported that 137 people died as a result of the blast, and roughly 5,000 others were injured.

Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud has revealed that as many as 300,000 people have been made temporarily homeless by the explosion.

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