A fire broke out in the middle of the afternoon inside an unused area of the port of Beirut almost 9 months after the one that caused the explosion of hangar 12. Civil defense units were able to quickly bring the fire under control despite heavy smoke.
This smoke aroused great concern among the population still traumatized by the explosion of August 4.
The explosion of the port of Beirut
As a reminder, more than 200 people are reported to have died and more than 6,500 people were injured in the explosion that devastated the port of Beirut and much of the Lebanese capital on 4 August. 300,000 people are also reported to be homeless as a result of the explosion.
The trail of an accidental explosion on 4 August 2020 of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate inside a warehouse in beirut harbour, seized in 2014 on a garbage ship, the Moldovan-flagged Rhosus, is currently favoured by the Lebanese authorities. This explosion would be equivalent to that of 600 tons of TNT or an earthquake of 3.3 on the Richter scale.
It is said to have caused a crater 110 metres long and 43 metres deep, a security source said on Sunday (August 9th), citing comments by French experts at the scene.
Speaking in the Columns of the Washington Post on 7 September, the Prosecutor of the Republic, Judge Ghassan Oweidat, revealed that in addition to the 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, kerosene, gazoil, 25 tons of fireworks and detonators for use for mines were also present in the same warehouse.
The presence of these products could have maintained the fire and allowed it to reach the temperatures allowing the explosion of ammonium nitrate, some experts point out.
The damage is estimated to be between $10 billion and $15 billion.
