Explosion-damaged Beirut port takes another hit (VIDEOS) — RT World News
Four grain silos collapsed Thursday in the port of Beirut, Lebanon. The 50-meter structures had been burning for several weeks and partially collapsed late last month.
Video footage shared on social media captured the moment the structures fell to the ground, sending a cloud of smoke, dust and debris into the air.
The collapse of the towering structures came two years to the day after a huge explosion killed 190 people, injured 6,000 others and devastated much of the city. The explosion was blamed on an improperly stored reserve of ammonium nitrate, and the fallout from the incident toppled the country’s government, destroyed its economy and compromised its food security.
The silos had tilted for several days, with French civil engineer Emmanuel Durand telling the Lebanese news site L’Orient Today on Wednesday that a collapse would occur. “at any time” in the next few hours. Port workers had been evacuated from the surrounding area for several days and the roads near the silos were closed.
Other silos in Beirut are collapsing as Lebanon marks two years since the explosion, with a cloud of smoke and dust eerily similar to that of the blast rising into the sky. pic.twitter.com/ujwEWIvwNB
— Timour Azhari (@timourazhari) August 4, 2022
The structures have been burning for several weeks, with authorities blaming the blaze on grain that had fermented in the summer heat before burning. Amid the blaze, four silos in the same block have already collapsed in the past week, leaving eight still standing. An adjacent block of 16 silos showed no signs of tilting, Durand said in an earlier update.
The structures have been burning for several weeks, with authorities blaming the blaze on grain that had fermented in the summer heat before burning. Amid the blaze, four silos in the same block have already collapsed in the past week, leaving eight still standing. An adjacent block of 16 silos showed no signs of tilting, Durand said in an earlier update.
An investigation into the 2020 explosion has been stalled since December, AP reported, citing legal challenges from officials under investigation. No one has yet faced legal repercussions for the blast, and at the time of the latest collapse hundreds were taking part in a protest march demanding accountability.
You can share this story on social media:
Rt
