The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says it is working to verify reports that at least 34 refugees have been killed among about 200 people in a massive port explosion that devastated a Lebanese capital city in a week.
The UNHCR said in a statement on Tuesday that at least seven refugees were reported missing after the August 4 explosion, while at least 124 refugees were reported injured in the blast, 20 seriously.
The agency attempted but did not immediately independently verify the reports of 34 deaths.
“We are concerned that the cause of death among the refugee population of Beirut of about 200,000 may continue to rise,” the UNHCR said.
There are more than 884,000 registered Syrian refugees living in Lebanon, with many fleeing the neighboring civil war that began in 2011, according to UNHCR.
If you account for unregistered refugees, that number is about 1.5 million, according to aid groups.
Last week, about 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, which had been stored in Beirut’s only port for six years, ignited, causing a devastating explosion that destroyed property several kilometers away.
Ahmed Staifi said his wife, Khaldiya, and his youngest and oldest daughters – Jude, 13, and Latifa, 24 – who had fled Syria six years ago, died when the three-story building, where they living, collapsing.
Staifi said his family escaped the war and believed they had taken refuge in Lebanon, where he already lived and worked as a laborer.
“My wife had called me and said, ‘Ahmed, I’m on the run from the war and coming to you,’ the Syrian father of four told Reuters. “Death followed her here.”
In addition to the increasing death toll, the explosion injured more than 6,000 people and left an estimated 300,000 people homeless.
The UNHCR said its immediate humanitarian response included “the entire community”, including Lebanese citizens, refugees and migrant workers.
It said its initial estimates indicate that up to 10,000 “vulnerable households” were severely affected and urgently needed support.
Unrest grows after disaster
The disaster has also sparked a new series of protests in the country, with many residents already at a breaking point over a prolonged economic crisis, corruption, and government function and waste.
On Monday, Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab stopped by his cabinet and called the disaster a result of endemic corruption.
Many questions remain as to why shipments of ammonium nitrate in Beirut were reduced in late 2013. Even more question is why such a large stash of dangerous material, used in bombs and fertilizers, could remain there for so long.
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The Lebanese government resigns after the explosion of Beirut |
On Tuesday, the news agency Reuters reported, with a senior security official, that a judicial inquiry in January had concluded that the hazardous chemicals should be secured immediately.
The official told the news agency that President Michel Aoun and Diab had been informed in a letter of the potentially catastrophic danger.
A Diab spokesman confirmed he received the letter on July 20, and sent it to the Supreme Defense Council for advice. There was no direct comment from Aoun or the Supreme Defense Council.
The letter had followed a string of memos and letters sent to the country’s courts by the port, customs and security officials over the past six years, and repeatedly urged judges to remove the ammonium nitrate from its position so close. the city center, the news agency reported.
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