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Lebanese Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi told local television that the explosion, which killed more than a hundred people and injured thousands, was caused by more than 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate ignited and exploded.
According to Fahmi, highly explosive fertilizers have been stored in port warehouses since the confiscation since 2014. This was confirmed by the country’s Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, who said that 2,750 tons of fertilizers had been stored for six years without the measures of necessary security.
According to Mr. Diabo, those responsible for the fertilizer storage violations will have to answer.
Lebanese security chief Abbas Ibrahim says highly explosive materials were stored in the port depot after they were seized from a Russian-owned ship. Based on the chronology of events and the size of the shipment, the media reports that this is probably the case with the ship MV Rhosus, which belonged to I. Grechushkin, a citizen of the Russian Federation at the time of the seizure.
A businessman from Khabarovsk, Siberia, currently lives in Cyprus.
Aftermath of the explosion in Beirut
© Sipa / Scanpix
Lebanese officials seized MV Rhosus in 2013. The decision was made after a Russian-owned freighter arrived at the port due to technical problems, according to lawyers involved in the seizure case.
The Associated Press reports that MV Rhosus transported ammonium nitrate from the Black Sea port of Batart to Mozambique in Sakartwell, causing a breakdown and had to stop in Beirut.
The Russian and Moldovan media announced on August 5 that MV Rhosus had flown the Moldovan flag upon entering Beirut.
The portal Odessitua.com reports that the majority of the ship’s crew are Ukrainians who have been stuck in Beirut for a while because the Russian businessman had no money for their salaries or taxes on the ship.
On August 5, Lebanese television LBCI-TV reported that, according to preliminary information, the fire that finally caused the explosion was caused by the welders. The latter managed an opening through which outsiders could illegally enter the warehouse.
According to LBCI, during the welding work, the sparks ignited the fireworks stored in the same warehouse. Ammonium nitrate has also ignited since the latter.
Independent experts say the orange clouds that appeared after the explosion were likely harmful nitrogen dioxide gases released into the environment after the nitrate explosion.
The explosion in the Beirut port was due to negligence, my investigators said.
The powerful blast at Beirut port was due to the negligence of its personnel, UK Sky News reported Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the preliminary findings.
The experts concluded that the storage of hazardous materials was negligent. Furthermore, the chemicals are believed to have been stored in the port for several years without the necessary precautions being taken.
The main explosion is believed to have been caused by ammonium nitrate stored in the port. However, experts working at the site found that one of the adjacent hangars initially caught fire. Later, the flames, which could not be controlled, also covered a room with almost 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate. Disaster struck when it detonated.
Middle Eastern media reported that Beirut port authorities acknowledged that they understood the cargo stored there to be dangerous, but had no idea of the severity of the threat.
“We knew it was a dangerous substance, but we did not know how dangerous it was,” the port authority said.
The port manager also noted that customs and security services had submitted requests to dispose of these explosives or export them.
“We have been waiting six years for this problem to be solved, but we have not achieved any results,” he said.
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