Angry Lebanese plan major protest on Saturday, one day
before team investigating explosion reports to cabinet
Martin
Chulov in Beirut, Michael Safi in Amman and Peter Beaumont in London
Fri 7 Aug
2020 17.16 BSTLast modified on Fri 7 Aug 2020 19.12 BST
Dozens of
bags of fireworks were stored in the same hangar as thousands of tonnes of
ammonium nitrate at Beirut’s port and may have been a decisive factor in
igniting the explosive chemical compound that fuelled Tuesday’s huge explosion,
a former port worker and other sources have told the Guardian.
As angry
Lebanese plan a major protest in central Beirut on Saturday, scrutiny has
focused on how 2,750 tonnes of the dangerous material could have been stored so
close to residential neighbourhoods for years – despite repeated warnings of
the risk it posed.
A former
port worker, Yusuf Shehadi, told the Guardian he had been instructed by the
Lebanese military to house the chemicals in warehouse 12 at the port despite
repeated protests by other government departments.
“We
complained a lot about this over the years,” said Shehadi, who worked at the
port until emigrating to Canada in March this year. “Every week, the customs
people came and complained and so did the state security officers. The army
kept telling them they had no other place to put this. Everyone wanted to be
the boss, and no one wanted to make a real decision.”
In
addition, the hangar housed a quantity of fireworks, Shehadi said, which
customs had confiscated in about 2009-10 and which he said he had personally
seen delivered on a forklift. “There were 30 to 40 nylon bags of fireworks
inside warehouse 12,” he said.
“They were
on the left-hand side when you entered the door. I used to complain about this.
It wasn’t safe. There was also humidity there. This was a disaster waiting to
happen. The port workers did not put the chemicals there in the first place.
That outrage rests with the government.”
What we know about the Beirut explosion –
video explainer
A second
source has confirmed the fireworks’ presence, which was also the subject of
media reports in Lebanon on Friday.
The
emerging new picture of the circumstances that led to the blast comes as
investigators and media organisations continue to try to piece together the cause
of the fire and subsequent blast.
The claim
that fireworks were being stored in the same warehouse as the ammonium nitrate
appears to be confirmed by phone footage, apparently filmed by a port worker
from the roof of the grain silos that overlooked the seat of the biggest blast
– now a 150-metre-wide crater of seawater.
In the
brief section of footage posted on social media, a long warehouse – running
parallel to the grain silo and separated by a road – is visible, with smoke
coming out of the windows on its west side and from the roof.
Geotagging
by the investigative website Bellingcat and the Guardian, and comparison of
features, strongly suggests that this warehouse is located at the very centre
of the devastating blast –locating the initial fire and subsequent explosions
in the same area of warehousing.
As the
person on the silo roof films the north end of the warehouse from their vantage
point, the smoke thickens and then a dozen or so white flashes can be seen
occurring in rapid succession inside, triggering thicker red flames that
quickly spread southwards before detonating a major explosion in the building
within seconds that causes the person filming to duck for cover.
Shehadi
said he had spoken to former colleagues at the port who said workers were
attempting to fix a gate outside warehouse 12 with an electrical tool ahead of
the blast. “This was at 5pm, and after 30 minutes they saw smoke. Firefighters
came, and so did state security. Everyone died.”
A video
posted to social media depicted firefighters tackling a small blaze in a
warehouse that resembled a port building. “It is my belief that this repair
work led to this catastrophe,” Shehadi said.
The
Lebanese investigation into the disaster is expected to report to the national
cabinet by Sunday. Sixteen people linked to the port including its general
manager have been placed under house arrest, but figures including the French
president, Emmanuel Macron, have called for an independent international
inquiry.
The
country’s president, Michel Aoun, said the cause of the blast was still unclear
and did not rule out the possibility of a hostile act. “The cause has not been
determined yet,” Aoun said. “There is a possibility of external interference
through a rocket or bomb or other act.”
The
Lebanese Red Cross estimated that dozens of people could still be buried under
debris from the blast, mostly port employees who worked in and around the
hangar.
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