There were no immediate reports of injuries. Lebanese officials warned last week that some of the silos – a towering reminder of the devastating explosion on August 4, 2020 – could collapse after the northern section began tilting at an accelerating rate. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register “It was the same feeling as when the explosion happened, we remembered the explosion,” said Tarek Hussain, a resident of the nearby Karandina district, who was out shopping for groceries with his son when the collapse happened. “Some big pieces fell and my son was scared when he saw it,” she said. A fire has been smoldering in the silos for several weeks, which officials say was the result of summer heat igniting fermented grains rotting through the explosion. The 2020 explosion was caused by ammonium nitrate that had not been safely stored at the port since 2013. It is widely seen by Lebanese as a symbol of corruption and misgovernance by a ruling elite that has also led the country into a catastrophic economic collapse. One of the most powerful non-nuclear explosions on record, the blast injured an estimated 6,000 people and devastated parts of Beirut, leaving tens of thousands of people homeless. Ali Hami, the caretaker government’s minister of transport and public works, told Reuters he feared more sections of the silos could collapse immediately. Environment Minister Nasser Yassin said that while authorities did not know whether other sections of the silos would fall, the southern section was more stable. The fire at the silos, which glows orange at night inside a port that still resembles a disaster zone, had many Beirut residents on edge for weeks.
‘REMOVAL OF TRACES’ AUG. 4
There was controversy over what to do with the damaged silos. The government made a decision in April to destroy them, angering the families of the victims who wanted them left to preserve the memory of the blast. Parliament last week failed to pass a law that would have protected them from demolition. Public hopes for accountability over the 2020 explosion have faded as the investigator has faced high-level political opposition, including legal complaints from senior officials he tried to question. Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati said he rejected any interference in the investigation and wanted it to continue on its course. However, reflecting disbelief in the authorities, many people said they believed the fire was deliberately started or deliberately not contained. Divina Abojaoude, an engineer and member of a committee representing victims’ families, residents and experts, said the silos did not have to fall. “They were phased out and needed support, and our goal was to support them,” he told Reuters. “The fire was natural and it accelerated things. If the government wanted to, they could have contained the fire and reduced it, but we suspect they wanted the silos to collapse.” Reuters could not immediately reach government officials to respond to the charge that the fire could have been contained. Earlier this month, the finance minister cited difficulties in extinguishing the fire, including the risk of silos tipping over or the fire spreading as a result of atmospheric pressure created by military helicopters. Quarantine resident Fadi Hussain said he believed the collapse was deliberate to remove “any trace of August 4”. “We’re not worried about ourselves, we’re worried about our children, from the pollution” from the collapsing silos, he said, noting that blackouts in the country meant he was unable to even turn on a fan at home to reduce the impact of dust. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Writing by Nayera Abdallah and Tom Perry Editing by Hugh Lawson, Nick Macfie and Frances Kerry Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
