Russian businessman’s ship may trigger the tragedy in Beirut

The huge explotion near the Lebanese capital, Beirut, is under investigation. Nevertheless, officials have already asserted the possible cause of the disaster. The blast happened shortly afternoon in front of a Russian ship carrying large quantities of chemicals, despite warnings from local officials. Explosions can occur from those chemicals. This was reported by the US media CNN.

CNN has received new documents about the blast last Tuesday. According to the document, a Russian-owned ship MV Rosas with 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate stacked in the port of Beirut since 2013. The ship’s destination was Mozambique, which came to a halt in Beirut due to a financial crisis caused by the shipowner’s conflict with Russian and Ukrainian crews, which could not resume the voyage.

According to Badri Dahar, director of Lebanon’s customs department, the ship has never left port since it stopped in 2013. Badri and other officials repeatedly called the cargo ship a “floating bomb” and warned about it, but it was not safely evacuated from the port.

Lebanese authorities did not directly name MV Rosas as the source of the blast. However, Prime Minister Hassan Diab said 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate was the cause of the catastrophic explosion. He said the chemical had been in the port’s warehouse for six years without any safety measures.

The head of the public safety department also said that high levels of explosives were seized a few years ago and kept in the port’s warehouse.

Meanwhile, some port officials have been placed under house arrest in connection with the horrific blast at the port. They were placed under house arrest during the investigation of the incident. The common man is blaming the negligence of the government for this explosion.

This article has been posted by a News Hour Correspondent. For queries, please contact through [email protected]
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