SOS: Everything you should know about Lebanon’s port explosion

Featured image Source: Wikimedia Commons

Summary

• The Lebanon blast claimed over 150 lives and economic losses in billions amid the COVID-19 pandemic
• Mega crater built at the explosion site and destroyed substantial port infrastructure including 120,000 tonnes of food stocks raising ambiguity over food security in Lebanon
• Ammonium Nitrate suspected to be seized from MV Rhosus, Civil protests on the rise as handling of chemical in the port is being questioned
• Requests for international probe into blast rejected by the Lebanese President

On the evening of Tuesday 4 August 2020, a large fire broke out at the port of Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon, located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. While the cause of the fire is being investigated, white smokes were seen in the viral videos on the social media platforms and in the image below from the warehouse 12 adjacent to the massive grain silos.

At almost 6:00 PM local time (1:00 AM AEST) the roof of the warehouse caught fire and was followed by a big explosion and successive smaller blasts.

Almost 30 seconds after the smaller explosions, a gigantic explosion resulted in a mushroom cloud (red-tinged Dark cloud as seen in the image) in the air and a successive supersonic blast wave destroying a section of the city into rubble.

Mega Impact Blasts at the port de Beirut

Almost 150 lives were claimed, and 5,000 casualties reported according to the Lebanese red cross. The impact of the blast could actually be seen even across 100 miles from Beirut. The blast has supposedly created a mega crater with a width of over 150 metres and is now submerged by the seawater.

The tragedy took place at a time when Lebanon is progressing on trial over the assassination of the former prime minister Rafik Hariri. It is also accidental that the explosion also destroyed Hariri’s home.

The explosion was even heard by as far as Cyprus, another country almost 200 kilometres from the blast site creating tremors equivalent to a 3.3 Richter scale earthquake as reported by the seismologists from the United States Geological Survey.

As per the media reports, almost 300,000 people are not able to return to their homes with the damage occurring across half the city with economic losses in billions.

While the initial media report and the comments from the local pedestrians suspected the nature of explosion as mysterious, some even went forward to view this as a nuclear attack on the Lebanese soil, later the investigation came out with new interim conclusions.

Beirut port and associate facilities, how is Lebanon managing to procure supplies post the blast

The port of Beirut is Lebanon’s largest port handling over 3,000 ships and general cargoes of over 8 million tonnes by 2015. The port is among the busiest in the Mediterranean region. The Beirut port plays a strong role in the transportation of cargoes to and from Jordan, Syria, Iraq and the entire Middle east region.

The explosion has also disrupted the marine traffic to Lebanon as the oncoming ships and containers have been diverted to Lebanon’s other port at Tripoli located almost 70 kilometres from the port of Beirut. It is to be noted that Lebanon has a very high dependence on imports for its consumption.

As of now, the rescue activities are ongoing and no tentative date for the reopening of the port operations at Beirut has been announced so far.

The question of the Hour: Cause of the explosion & its Mining connection

As the investigations for the cause of the blast is ongoing. The Lebanese government officials, including the spokesperson to the prime minister, expressed that the explosion was possibly caused by a stockpile of ammonium nitrate.

It has been alleged that over 2,750 tonnes of Ammonium Nitrate were stored improperly for the past 6 years. A Moldovan flagged cargo ship, MV Rhosus, which was supposedly carrying over 2,750 tonnes of Ammonium Nitrate from Georgia to Mozambique for an explosive manufacturer for mining activities and later made an unscheduled stop at Beirut port in 2013.

Smoke from the Blast visible even in distanced places Source: Wikimedia Commons

Ammonium Nitrate is widely used for the production of explosives and fertilisers. Such strong oxidising agents are required to be transported and stored as per the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS).

Ammonium Nitrate has historically been seized or stored at the seaports in the past as well but requires to be stored in the absence of moisture and in accordance with the specified instructions as per the MSDS.

Ammonium nitrate has historically been used by terrorist groups globally in explosion incidents. Here are a few-

• 1947 - An explosion in the Texas city killing and injuring many innocent Americans
• 1995 - Two American terrorists used 2 tonnes of Ammonium Nitrate based truck bomb killing over 168 people
• 2015 – 800 tonnes of Ammonium nitrate triggered a warehouse explosion at China’s Tianjin port claiming 173 lives.

Shortly after the incident, several port authorities across the globe have reported the storage of Ammonium Nitrate. Some of the major ones are-

• The Pivdennyi Port in Odesa Oblast of Ukraine reported storing almost 9,600 tons of ammonium nitrate.
• Chennai port in India reported that it seized a consignment of 740 tonnes of ammonium nitrate in 2015 and has been storing it. Another Indian port in the southern city of Vishakhapatnam reported that the port at any time stores over 30,000 tonnes of the chemical in 6 warehouses.

Lebanon post the Blast: Macron visits blast site, Lebanon rejects International probe plea

While the port blast, left the city in shambles with major hospitals treating coronavirus patients in close proximity to the port compound. Following the blast, protests against the Lebanese government has been reignited blaming the government and the authorities on the negligence and incompetence with the residents paying the prices in terms of loss of lives, shelter and money.

The Lebanese security forces used tear gas to control the protests. With 120,000 tonnes Lebanese food stocks at the port facility serious concerns over the food security in the country have been raised. The international community has been proactive with many offering helping hand to the country.

On Thursday 6 August 2020, 2 days after the blast French President Emmanuel Macron visited the blast site and called for an investigation co-led by international experts. As per the latest updates, Lebanese President Michel Aoun has rejected an international probe in the blast investigation.