Le Liban sort toujours groggy des conséquences de l’explosion qui s’est déroulée dans le port de Beyrouth, aux environs de 17 heures

L’explosion du Port de Beyrouth a été causée, selon les autorités libanaises par le stockage de manière inadéquante de 2750 tonnes de nitrate d’ammonium, une quantité équivalente à celle de 600 tonnes de TNT. Cette marchandise aurait été saisie sur un navire en mauvais état en 2014 et était à destination de l’Afrique. Le cargo finira par couler par lui-même en rade de Beyrouth un an plus tard en raison d’un état lamentable.

La marchandise avait été précédemment transférée à l’intérieur du port de Beyrouth, initialement pour être ré-acheminée en Afrique, indiquent des sources sécuritaires.

L’explosion a provoqué un nuage que beaucoup comparent à une bombe nucléaire même comme en témoignent les nombreuses vidéos de ce moment publiées sur les réseaux sociaux. Elle aurait atteint l’équivalent d’un tremblement de terre de 3.3 sur l’échelle de Richter, indiquait hier soir le site de l’USGC.

Le nitrate d’ammonium est une substance explosive déjà à l’origine de nombreux drames, comme celui de l’usine AZF à Toulouse en France, le 21 septembre 2001; de l’usine d’ammoniac West Fertilizer près de Waco au Texas, en avril 2013; d’un entrepôt dans le port de Tianjin en Chine en 2015.

Cette substance est généralement utilisée comme engrais mais peut servir à produire des explosifs ce qui semble avoir été le cas pour cette cargaison qui se trouvait être destinée à une usine de munition.

The story of a garbage ship whose cargo runs aground at the port of Beirut

It all started in 2013 when a freighter flying the Moldovan flag, the Rhosus with on board 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate was on its way from the port of Batumi in Georgia to Mozambique. This merchandise had been purchased by International Bank of Mozambique for Fábrica de Explosivos de Moçambique.

The owner, who actually leased the vessel, a certain Igor Grechushkin, is said to be a Russian national residing in Cyprus. The latter had received the sum of one million dollars to transport this merchandise considered dangerous to the port of Beira in Mozambique.

As for the captain of the ship, it would be a certain Prokoshev who would have taken control of the ship in Turkey, following a mutiny by his previous crew who had not been paid.

Then Grechushkin reportedly told the captain that he did not have sufficient funds to pay for passage through the Suez Canal. He allegedly ordered other goods to be loaded in Beirut in order to pay this sum. However, these goods cannot be put on board the freighter. According to the captain, following an inspection, the Lebanese authorities would have withdrawn the certificate of seaworthiness of the vessel and would have ordered its maintenance at the port of Beirut until payment of berthing costs and ancillary costs. The owner of the vessel Grechushkin, contacted by the crew to ensure the payment of food, fuel and other ancillary costs will be unreachable.

However, this version is contradicted by the Lebanese authorities who evoke a damage to its engine, the ship will first be towed to Beirut on November 21, 2013 , specifies the then Minister of Transport Ghazi Aridi.

6 crew members may leave the ship but 4 members, the captain and 3 Ukrainian nationals will remain on board. However, they will not be able to leave it because of the restrictions imposed by Lebanese law and will end up begging for food and water according to the lawyers who have taken charge of this case.

The lawyers of the Baroudi and Partners office representing this crew also alerted the Lebanese authorities of the dangerousness of the cargo. Eventually, they will be able to return home in August 2014 after Grechushkin agreed to pay for their return trip and the cargo was not unloaded until June 27, 2014.

It was then that the Lebanese authorities had to take charge of the goods.

As for the ship, it will sink in 2015. According to the testimonies of his crew, the latter suffered as soon as he left Turkey, from a major waterway requiring his pumps to run continuously.

Multiple responsibilities but above all, the bankruptcy of a paralyzed system

According to the information currently available, the security authorities including that of customs and port and customs officials have contacted the local justice on 5 occasions, between 2014 and 2017, to obtain the necessary authorizations to be able to dispose of it. of this merchandise stored in inadequate and dangerous conditions in the Amber 12 warehouse at the port, located between the 3rd and 4th basin.

As early as May 2016, Chafic Marhi, the then customs director, noted on his request that there was “a serious danger posed by keeping this cargo in warehouses in an inappropriate environment.” In the same letter, he asked that “the shipping agency can re-export this material immediately”.

Subsequently, a year later, in 2017 therefore, the customs authority proposed other solutions, such as the donation of these tons of ammonium nitrate to the Lebanese army, the sale via the Lebanese company for Explosives without however obtaining a response from the judicial authorities.

This version is confirmed by the director general of the port of Beirut, Hassan Koraytem, to whom the Lebanese justice would have promised that the ship and its goods would be put up for sale at auction, which will not happen … until resulting in the disaster of August 4, a fatal day marked by the destruction, in addition to the port, of a large part of the eastern part of the city of Beirut with the procession of its many victims.