Almost 3000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate remained stored in a warehouse, in spite of multiple warnings and smells that emanated.
It is an explosive charge huge that devastated Beirut on Tuesday. Question : ammonium nitrate. For six years, nearly 3000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, a component of risk, remained stored in a warehouse and cracked the port of Beirut, in spite of multiple warnings and smells which were coming from, until the double blast was devastating.
The port authorities, customs and security services were all aware that materials, hazardous chemicals were stored at the port but were denied each other the responsibility of the folder, according to sources of security.
The government has claimed on Wednesday the arrest of the persons responsible for this storage. It is a fire in the warehouse where were stored the tons of nitrate which has caused explosions that have devastated the port, entire neighborhoods of the capital and killed at least 113 people dead and 4000 injured, including 21 French.
summer Offer : Take advantage of the special offer 2 months for€ 1 I would like to subscribe
The vessel containing the ammonium nitrate reached in November 2013
In 2013, the Rhosus, flying the flag of moldova and from Georgia, made a stopover at Beirut, en route to Mozambique, according to a security source. Carrying 2750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, which may enter into the composition of certain explosives for civil use, but also be used as fertilizer. According to the website Marine Traffic, the ship arrived on 20 November 2013 in Beirut and stayed there.
Why the cargo has been discharged at the port of Beirut ? According to lebanese security sources, while the Rhosus was in transit to Beirut, a leading lebanese would have filed a complaint against the company to which the vessel belonged, pushing the local justice to seize the boat. The load was placed in the hangar number 12, devoted to the seized goods. As for the boat, damaged, it eventually sank.
READ ALSO >> Lebanon : why the port of Beirut, devastated, was vital for the country’s economy
In June 2019, the security of the State, one of the highest security organizations in Lebanon, has launched an investigation on this cargo, after repeated complaints about foul smells that emanated from the hangar. In its report, it was reported that the warehouse contained “hazardous material it is necessary to move”. She also indicated that the walls of the warehouse were lézardées, which made flight possible, and recommended that it be repaired. The direction of the port, who was aware of the dangerous character of the goods, has finally sent some workers to patch up the cracks of the warehouse. This work, according to the sources of security, would have been the cause of the tragedy.
The ammonium nitrate involved in several industrial accidents
ammonium nitrate is a white salt, odorless, used as the basis of many nitrogen fertilizers in the form of granules, and has caused several industrial accidents, including the explosion of the AZF factory in Toulouse in France in 2001. According to another security source, “the destructive capacity of this quantity of ammonium nitrate is equivalent to between 1200 and 1300 tons of TNT”.
After the explosion, the director of customs, Badri Daher, hastened to make public a letter he had sent in December 2017 to the prosecutor, in which he requested, such as in letters earlier to transfer the cargo to abroad, or to sell it to a local company, the military has said they have no need.
According to Riad Kobaissi, an investigative journalist, lebanese, specialized in corruption cases and which has been much investigated in the port of Beirut, customs seek to absolve themselves of any responsibility. Emphasizing that at the basis it is prohibited to introduce such chemicals in Lebanon without authorization, it is estimated that this case “sheds light on the state of decay and corruption within customs, which assume the first, but not exclusively, the” responsibility ” of the drama.
Read our complete file
Double explosion in Beirut
Heavy balance sheet, ammonium nitrate, using international… Beirut after the explosions Explosions in Beirut : how to help the lebanese people from France? Explosions in Beirut: the prosecutor of Paris opened an investigation, at least 21 French wounded
Amnesty international has called for an investigation “independent”. On Twitter, internet users, under the hashtags “Hang them”, shouted their anger against the ruling class accused of this tragedy will be unprecedented in the history of Lebanon. “You have to pay for having burned the hearts of mothers and the future of young people and terrorized the children,” wrote one of them, under the portraits of political leaders.
