A shipment of ammonium nitrate threatens a new disaster in an African country
Senegalese officials said that about 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate, a quantity equivalent to that which caused a massive explosion in Beirut, was sent to Mali, which is currently stored in the port of the Senegalese capital, Dakar.
The explosion of a quantity of ammonium nitrate, which is used as fertilizer and in making explosives, resulted in the fourth of August, killing more than 180 people, wounding thousands of others and destroying large areas of the Lebanese capital.
Senegalese port authorities said in a statement Thursday that about 3,050 tons of ammonium nitrate had arrived in Dakar.
She added that "350 tons have already been sent to Mali," which does not have any access to the sea.
She added that the remaining quantity was supposed to be sent to Mali as well, but it closed its borders due to the coup that took place on Tuesday.
The owner of the ammonium nitrate offered to store it on a plot of land that he owned in an area thirty kilometers from Dakar, which would be developed as a satellite city.
On Wednesday, Senegalese President Macky Sall asked during a cabinet meeting to put in place a plan to make storage warehouses for dangerous chemical products safe.
The Dakar port authorities confirmed that they had taken "all necessary measures to avoid a similar disaster" to what happened in Beirut.