Explosion caused by the detonation of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse, say officials
Lebanese rescue workers dug through the mangled wreckage of buildings on Wednesday looking for survivors after a massive warehouse explosion sent a devastating blast wave across Beirut, killing at least 100 people and injuring nearly 4,000.
Officials said the toll was expected to rise after Tuesday’s Beirut blast at port warehouses that stored highly explosive material. The blast was the most powerful ever to rip through Beirut, a city still scarred by civil war three decades ago and reeling from an economic meltdown and a surge in coronavirus infections. It sent a mushroom cloud into the sky and rattled windows on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, about 100 miles (160 km) away. President Michel Aoun said 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, used in fertilisers and bombs, had been stored for six years at the port without safety measures.
He told the nation the government was “determined to investigate and expose what happened as soon as possible, to hold the responsible and the negligent accountable, and to sanction them with the most severe punishment.” An official source familiar with preliminary investigations blamed the incident on “inaction and negligence”, saying nothing was done” by committees and judges to order the removal of hazardous material.
No comments:
Post a Comment