At least two remaining silos at the port of Beirut have collapsed as crowds gathered at the site to mark two years since the deadly blast that rocked Lebanon’s capital.
Key Points:
- Dramatic video shows two of the silos collapsing, sending up a plume of dust and smoke
- The badly damaged structures had remained since the devastating explosion two years earlier
- Officials say the other silos are likely to collapse as rotting grain eats away at their base
The concrete silos cracked and fell, sending a plume of smoke into the sky. People protesting the government’s handling of the investigation into the blast covered their mouths in disbelief.
The damaged grain silos had remained a painful scar from the explosion that rocked the city in 2020, killing more than 200 people and injuring more than 7,000 others.
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The explosion, originating in the port, left 300,000 people homeless as a result of its destructive force.
Thursday’s collapse of about a quarter of the structure came an hour before hundreds of people gathered outside the facility to mark the second anniversary of the disaster.
Authorities had evacuated parts of the port earlier this week, after an initial section of the silos collapsed on Sunday.
Officials said most of the structure could collapse at any time after a fire started burning at the base of the silos in recent weeks, as a result of the summer heat that he ignited the rotting, fermenting grain.
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The two-year anniversary came amid calls for an international investigation into the blast, one of the most destructive single incidents in Lebanon’s troubled modern history.
The internal investigation has been stalled since December following legal challenges by the accused and accused officials against the judge leading the investigation.
Hundreds of people, including families of the victims, marched from three locations in Beirut to the main road outside the port. Some carried white coffins with the names of some of the victims, while others carried a gallows calling for punishment for those responsible.
“Two years later the pain is still the same,” said one of the relatives who lost their brother.
Two years later, none of the leading politicians have apologized to the Lebanese. The government called for a day of mourning, which led to the closure of many businesses.
Tarek Bitar, the judge leading the Lebanese investigation, had charged four former senior government officials with intentional homicide and negligence that led to the deaths of dozens of people. He also accused several senior security officials in the case
But none of them have been arrested and two of the accused were re-elected to parliament in May.
“There is no justice under the rule of the militia and the mafia,” read a banner during Thursday’s march.
Many have long blamed corruption and mismanagement by the Lebanese government, saying it led to the tragedy, when hundreds of tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, a material used in fertilizer, detonated in the port.
ABC/Cables