US Defense Secretary Mark Esper talked about the possibilities behind the huge explosion that occurred in the port of Beirut last Tuesday, which left 158 dead and thousands injured, and for its part, a Mozambican company issued a statement about the nature of its relationship with the accident.
Esper said Washington still did not know the cause of the Beirut port explosion. He added in an interview with "Fox News" that there are many possibilities for what happened.
Among the possibilities that the US Secretary talked about, "that the explosion was caused by a shipment of weapons to Hezbollah, or a bomb-making facility affiliated with the party at the port, or it was an accident."
For its part, the American "CNN" network quoted a spokesman for the Mozambique company for the manufacture of explosives, confirming that the shipment of ammonium nitrate that caused the explosion in Beirut port belonged to the company.
The spokesman explained that the shipment requested by the company was intended for the manufacture of explosives for mining companies in Mozambique, but it was confiscated and detained in the port of Beirut about seven years ago.
The spokesman indicated that this is the only shipment that did not arrive, pointing out that the matter "is not at all common, as it is a large quantity and not a shipment lost in the mail."
The spokesman confirmed that his company did not pay for the shipment as it had not received it, indicating that the latter had bought another shipment in place of the lost shipment.
He also expressed his surprise at the period in which the shipment was kept in Beirut port, noting that this material is not stored without any use of it.
He added that ammonium nitrate is a very dangerous substance, it is a strong oxidant used to produce explosives and transported according to very strict standards.
For his part, a French official told Reuters that Paris believes there is sufficient evidence to assume that the Beirut explosion was an accident.
New toll
The number of victims of the Beirut Port explosion, which occurred last Tuesday, has risen to 158, and the number of wounded has risen to about 6000.
The Information Office of the Ministry of Public Health in Lebanon announced yesterday, Saturday, that "the toll of the Beirut Port explosion so far has reached 158 martyrs and more than 6000 wounded."
The media office added that the calls received to the ministry's hotline revealed that "the remaining number of missing persons is 21 missing."
The explosion of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate shook Beirut port last Tuesday, causing massive damage to the port and its surroundings and in a number of the capital's streets, and the damage extended to large distances, and many hospitals in the capital were damaged and rendered unfit for use.
Local and international rescue teams are continuing to search for the missing.
The Lebanese Council of Ministers decided to place everyone who managed the storage of ammonium nitrate in the port under house arrest, to declare Beirut a disaster city, and to impose a state of emergency in the capital for a period of two weeks, renewable.
19 people, including Director of Beirut Port, Hassan Quraitem, and Director General of Customs, Badri Daher, were arrested pending investigations, and investigations are still ongoing.