French President Emmanuel Macron is set to meet his Lebanese counterpart, Michel Aoun, whom he called late Tuesday, as well as Prime Minister Hassan Diab, French media reported, quoting the Élysée Palace.

Media reports suggest that Paris dispatched three planes with search and rescue personnel and medical equipment to the ravaged city.

Lebanon is a former French protectorate and the countries retain close political and economic ties.

The cause of the explosion is not yet clear, but officials link the blast to some 2,750 tonnes of confiscated ammonium nitrate that had been stored in a port warehouse at the port for six years.

So far, the death toll from the havoc stands at over 130 people and more than 5,000 people were left injured.

The European Union was activating its civil protection system to round up emergency workers and equipment from across the 27-nation bloc, Reuters reported.

The EU commission said the plan was to urgently dispatch over 100 firefighters with vehicles, sniffer dogs and equipment designed to find people trapped in urban areas.

Emergency medical aid and pop-up field hospitals were dispatched to Lebanon on Wednesday as the world offered assistance and paid tribute to the victims of the huge explosion that devastated Beirut.