“There is no justice under the rule of militia and mafia,” read one banner carried during the march – an apparent reference to the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group, which has been calling for the removal of Bitar, describing him as biased. He also charged several top security officials in the case.īut none of them have been detained and two of those charged were re-elected to parliament in May. Tarek Bitar, the judge leading the Lebanese investigation, had charged four former senior government officials with intentional killing and negligence that led to the deaths of scores of people. The government called for a day of mourning, leading many businesses to close. Two years on, none of the top politicians have apologized to the Lebanese. “The pain is still the same,” said a man who had lost his brother. Some carried white coffins with names of some of the victims, others carried mock gallows, demanding punishment for those responsible. Hundreds of people, including families of the victims, marched from three locations in Beirut toward the main road outside the port Thursday. The domestic investigation has been stalled since December following legal challenges by charged and accused officials against the judge leading the investigation. The 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 south block is still not moving,” said Durand who monitors the silos from thousands of miles away using data produced by sensors he installed over a year ago, and updating a team of Lebanese officials on the developments in a WhatsApp group. He added that this part has a tilt of 3.3 degrees and is picking up the same trend as before – almost 0.5 degrees “per day, which is huge.”
Experts warned of more collapses in the days to come and said the entire structure of the silos was in danger of coming down.įollowing Thursday’s collapse, fire engines and an army helicopter sprayed the silos with water in an attempt to put out the fire.Įmmanuel Durand, a French civil engineer who volunteered for the government-commissioned team of experts, said eight silos are still left in the northern block. The environment and health ministries in late July issued instructions to residents living near the port to stay indoors in well-ventilated spaces. Firefighters and Lebanese Army soldiers were unable to put it out and it smoldered, a nasty smell spreading around. Sunday’s initial collapse was triggered by a weeks-long fire, caused by remnants of grains left over from the 2020 explosion that started fermenting and ignited in the summer heat last month. Many in Lebanon, including families of the victims, have been demanding that the silos be kept for future generations as a testament to a blast they say was caused by widespread corruption and mismanagement in the small Mediterranean nation. The 50 year-old, 48 meter (157 feet) tall silos had withstood the force of the 2020 explosion that destroyed much of the port. Authorities had evacuated parts of the port earlier this week – after an initial section of the silos collapsed on Sunday – as a precautionary measure and there was no indication that anyone was hurt. Thursday’s collapse of roughly a fourth of the structure occurred an hour before hundreds of people were to gather outside the facility to mark the 2nd anniversary of the disaster. 4, 2020 explosion that killed nearly 220 people, injured over 6,000 and caused damage worth billions of dollars. The silos had shielded Beirut’s western neighborhoods in the Aug. The northern block of the silos, consisting of four towers, had been slowly tilting for days before it collapsed, causing a huge cloud of dust. By Bassem Mroue THE ASSOCIATED PRESS August 5, 2022Ī large block of Beirut’s giant port grain silos, shredded by a massive explosion two years ago, collapsed on Thursday as hundreds marched in the Lebanese capital to mark the second anniversary of the blast that killed scores.
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