[ad_1]
Acting Prime Minister Hassan Diab said Tuesday that the US FBI report put the amount of ammonium nitrate that exploded inside the Beirut port on August 4 at 500 tons.
Lebanese authorities attributed the terrible explosion at the time, which killed more than 200 people and injured more than 6,500, to a fire that broke out in a warehouse where a quantity of 2,700 tons was stored, as announced by Diab at the time. of ammonium nitrate six years ago without protective measures.
In an interview with several journalists from the First Ministry, according to a statement from his media office, Diab said that the “FBI report” revealed that the amount that exploded was only 500 tons, and asked “Where did the 2,200 tons go? tons remaining “?
An “FBI” team participated in the initial investigation and the Lebanese side provided a copy of their report. Agence France-Presse was unable to verify or view the content of the report.
French researchers were also involved in the evidence gathering process.
Lebanon refused to conduct an international investigation into the explosion, which severely damaged the country’s main port and several neighborhoods in the capital, displacing tens of thousands of families from their homes that were damaged or destroyed.
Authorities have been investigating the explosion since it occurred, but the judicial investigator, Fadi Sawan, announced this month that the investigations would be suspended for ten days after two former ministers, who were charged in a memorandum, requested that the case be transferred to another. judge, according to a judicial source informed by Agence France-Presse.
On December 10, Sawan had indicted Diab and three former ministers, namely former Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil and former Labor Ministers Ghazi Zuaiter and Youssef Fenianos, but none of them appeared before him at the sessions held. identified for questioning as “defendants.”
The four people are the first political officials indicted by Sawan in the case in which at least 25 senior officials responsible for the administration and security of the port were arrested.
Subsequently, Zuaiter and Hassan Khalil submitted a memorandum to the Court of Cassation, which has not yet decided on the request to transfer the case.
On the sixth of this month, Sawan claimed the management and investment of the port on charges of “negligence, negligence and causing the death” of people, according to a judicial source and Agence France-Presse.
The blast sparked outrage among the Lebanese, especially after various reports and sources confirmed that authorities, including security services, presidents, and former and current officials, were aware of the storage of this material in the port and its dangers. .
