Collapse of grain silos in Beirut’s port revives trauma felt by survivors of devastating 2020 explosion

The collapse of gutted grain silos in Beirut’s port revived the terror and trauma felt by survivors four days before the crisis-ridden nation is set to mark the second anniversary of the devastating explosion of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse.

The blast on August 4th, 2020, killed 219, wounded 6,000, and rendered 300,000 homeless. On Sunday afternoon, four of the 16 northern silos crashed to the earth with a roar and caused a black dust cloud to rise over the port, shocking neighbourhood residents who have struggled to recover and rebuild their lives and property with little or no help from the bankrupt state.

Smouldering fires ignited two weeks earlier by grain fermenting in the heat had weakened the base of the silos, causing them to list, and poured noxious fumes into the air. Since neither water nor foam put out the fires, firemen were ordered to keep away from the area.

The Lebanese Red Cross distributed KN95 masks to families living near the port and urged them to close windows and doors and switch on air conditioners although electricity outages are frequent and fuel for generators is in short supply due to Lebanon’s economic meltdown.

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The government decided to bulldoze the silos in April but hesitated due to opposition from survivors, families of the dead and Lebanese still stricken by the explosion. They insist the silos should be preserved as a memorial to the victims and a reproach to politicians who refused to deal with the volatile material stored for seven years along with tins of paint and fireworks.

West Beirutis argue the 50-year-old, 48m-tall block of silos protected their sector of the city by absorbing the air-shock from the blast, the largest non-nuclear explosion since the second World War.

In response to enduring popular anger over the explosion, reformist legislators elected in May marched from the port to attend the first session of the new parliament.

Lebanese seeking to prosecute those responsible contend the silos might provide evidence for judge Tarek Bitar whose investigation into the explosion has been suspended after legal objections were lodged by politicians he seeks to interrogate. Among the half dozen he has summoned, Ghazi Zeiter and Ali Hassan al-Khalil from the Amal-Hizbullah list were re-elected to parliament. Both headed key ministries in cabinets that ignored the threat to Beirut port, the country’s main import-export facility.

The volatile cargo arrived in late 2013 on a battered freighter commissioned to collect heavy machinery bound for Jordan before delivering the ammonium nitrate to Mozambique. The ship was declared unseaworthy and the Russian captain and three Ukrainian crew were detained on the vessel for a year until they were repatriated.

The Cyprus-based operator abandoned the ship which was seized by port officials in February 2014 after accumulating $100,000 in fees and the cargo was off-loaded to the warehouse until it exploded. President Michel Aoun and appropriate ministers were warned of the danger posed by the ammonium nitrate but nothing was done. The ship sank in early 2018.