A source familiar with the matter said that preliminary investigations indicate that years of complacency and negligence are the reason for storing a highly explosive substance in Beirut port, which led to the explosion that killed more than 100 people yesterday.
The Prime Minister and the Presidency said yesterday that 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate, which are used in the manufacture of fertilizers and bombs, were stored in the port six years ago without safety measures.
"It is negligence," the official source told Reuters, adding that the issue of storage safety was brought up to several committees and judges and "nothing was done" to issue an order to transfer this highly flammable substance or dispose of it.
The source added that a fire broke out in the warehouse number nine in the port and extended to warehouse number 12 where ammonium nitrate was stored.
This was the most powerful explosion in Beirut, a city that still bears the scars of the civil war that took place three decades ago and suffers from a severe financial crisis rooted in decades of corruption and economic mismanagement.
The Director General of Lebanese Customs, Badri Daher, told LBCI television today, Wednesday, that customs sent six documents to the judiciary to warn that the material posed a danger.
"We asked for it to be re-exported, but this did not happen. We leave it to the experts and stakeholders to determine the reason," he added.
Another source close to a port employee said that a team that inspected ammonium nitrate six months ago warned that if it was not transported it would "explode all of Beirut."
According to two documents seen by Reuters, Lebanese customs asked the judiciary in 2016 and 2017 to ask the "concerned marine institutions" to re-export or agree to the sale of ammonium nitrate, which was transported from the cargo ship (Rusus) and deposited in warehouse 12, to ensure the safety of the port.
One of the documents mentioned similar requests in 2014 and 2015.
Ghassan Hasbani, former deputy prime minister and member of the Lebanese Forces party, said, "There must be a local and international investigation into the incident, given its size and the conditions under which these goods were brought to the ports."
The site was graying aristide. KOM, a network that handles lawsuits in the shipping sector, said in a report in 2015 that the Roussus, which sails the Moldova flag hoist, docked in Beirut in September 2013 when it experienced technical problems while sailing from Georgia to Mozambique carrying 2,750 tons. Of ammonium nitrate.
He said that after inspection, the ship was prevented from sailing and then abandoned by its owners shortly after, prompting various creditors to file legal claims.
"Because of the risks related to keeping ammonium nitrate aboard the ship, the port authorities transported the cargo to the port warehouses," he added.