Lebanon: cleaning of the port of Beirut where polluting chemicals were found
Audio 02:32
The Lebanese army has found dozens of containers of pollutants, stored in the open air, which spill into nature.
© RFI / Noé Pignède
By: Noé Pignède Follow
6 min
More than four months after the double explosion in the port of Beirut which left 200 dead and devastated the city, the cleaning of dangerous substances stored in the area continues.
Because the 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrates at the origin of the tragedy were not the only chemicals abandoned.
The Lebanese army has since found dozens of other containers of pollutants, stored in the open, which are discharged into nature.
Further proof, if any, of the widespread corruption that reigned at the port of Beirut.
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To clean and destroy these containers filled with all kinds of acids, the Lebanese authorities called on a specialized German company.
A little further on, Johannes Maken, a chemist from the German company Combi-lift who oversees the cleaning, takes samples to determine what substances the barrels contain.
“
Here it's hydrofluoric acid… A good quantity
!
The big danger with this product is that if you come in contact with it, it penetrates your skin to the bone, dissolves the calcium, and kills you.
50
ml only, and you will die
!
"
In a light cloud of white vapor, a dozen young people equipped with coveralls and masks empty one by one the thousands of shattered cans ... Stored in decomposing containers, the acid drips into the sea. Oleg Bugaev, site manager.
“
In that orange container, it's methyl bromide, a substance that is banned in most countries around the world, but is still stored there.
It is a very dangerous, toxic gas that destroys the ozone layer.
In my entire career, I have never seen storage conditions as bad as here at the port of Beirut.
It is truly dismal.
Everything has been neglected for decades
.
"
After more than a month of work, the cleanup is far from over, as most of the containers that need to be cleared are falling apart.
“
When you have a real container, you can move it.
There it is no longer possible.
Normally these are strong steel cases, but here it has become piles of rust.
They can no longer be transported, so they have to be opened and their contents transferred to airtight barrels.
Then, we will load them on a boat to Germany where they will be destroyed.
"
Since the August 4 explosion and the start of the clean-up operation, nearly 1 million liters of illegally stored chemicals have been discovered in the port of Beirut.
An ecological disaster that the port authorities could not ignore while these corrosive substances were in the open air, in plain sight.
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Lebanon
Pollution
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