Lebanon orders probe as blast toll now 137
Print Edition
THE government of Lebanon has given an investigative committee four days to determine responsibility for the devastating explosion in Beirut port on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Charbel Wehbe told French radio yesterday.
“This morning, a decision was taken to create an investigative committee which in four days maximum must provide a detailed report on responsibility — how, who, what, where? There will be judicial decisions,” he told Europe 1 radio.
“It is serious, and we take it seriously,” Wehbe said.
“Those responsible for this horrible crime of negligence will be punished by a committee of judges,” he added.
The provisional death toll from the massive blast stood at 137 yesterday, but with dozens missing and 5,000 wounded, the number was expected to rise as rescue workers continued to comb through the rubble.
Losses from the blast are estimated to be between US$10 billion to US$15 billion, Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud told the Saudi TV station Al-Hadath, adding that nearly 300,000 people are homeless.
Prime Minister Hassan Diab declared three days of mourning from yesterday for victims of the explosion, the most devastating ever to hit the city that is still scarred by civil war three decades ago and reeling from a financial meltdown and surge in coronavirus cases.
At the port, destroyed by Tuesday’s giant mushroom cloud and fireball, families gathered seeking news about the missing, amid public anger at the authorities for allowing highly explosive material to be stored there for years in unsafe conditions.
On Wednesday, the government declared a two-week state of emergency in Beirut and ordered the house arrest of those responsible for the storage of a large quantity of ammonium nitrate, a substance used in fertilizers and explosives, in the port of the Lebanese capital.
According to Lebanese officials, the explosion was caused by a fire igniting 2,750 tons of the substance in a portside warehouse. “It is an accident... preliminary reports indicate it is mismanagement of explosive products. This is a very serious neglect that continued for six years,” said Wehbe.
The head of Lebanon’s customs department meanwhile confirmed that officials had sent five or six letters over the years to the judiciary asking that the ammonium nitrate be removed because of the dangers it posed. But Badri Daher said all he could do was alert authorities to the presence of dangerous materials, saying even that was “extra work” for him and his predecessor. He said the port authority was responsible for the material, while his job was to prevent smuggling and collect duties.
The cargo had been stored at the port since it was confiscated from a ship years earlier. Based on the timeline and the size of the cargo, that ship could be the MV Rhosus. The ship was initially seized in Beirut in 2013 when it entered the port due to technical problems, according to lawyers involved in the case. It came from the nation of Georgia, and had been bound for Mozambique.
The stockpile is believed to have detonated after a fire broke out nearby in what appeared to be a warehouse holding fireworks. Daher said he did not know if there were fireworks near the site. Another theory is that the fire began when welders were trying to repair a broken gate and a hole in the wall of Hangar 12, where the explosive material was stored.
Port officials have rejected the theory in interviews with local media, saying the welders completed their work long before the fire broke out.
Prime Minister Hassan Diab and President Michel Aoun have promised to put the culprits behind bars, but trust in institutions is low and few on the streets of the Lebanese capital hold out hope of an impartial inquiry.
Lebanese, who have lost jobs and watched savings evaporate in the financial crisis, blamed politicians who have overseen and benefited from decades of state corruption and bad governance.
“They will scapegoat somebody to defer responsibility,” said Rabee Azar, a 33-year-old construction worker. “This explosion was final bullet to kill off the country.”
French President Emmanuel Macron landed in Beirut yesterday amid widespread pledges of international aid. He said France will work to coordinate aid but warned that “if reforms are not made, Lebanon will continue to sink.”
Flights carrying medical aid, field hospitals, rescue experts and tracking dogs have been flying into Beirut airport since Wednesday.
The World Bank said on Wednesday it would work with Lebanon’s partners to mobilize public and private financing for reconstruction and recovery.
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