So far, 16 port workers have been arrested and others questioned. Official letters circulating online showed that the head of the customs service had warned several times over the years that ammonium nitrate at the port was a danger and had asked the judicial government for a ruling on how to dispose of it.
Three days after the explosion, it’s unclear what ignited the chemicals. It is the worst explosion in Lebanon, a country whose history is complete with destruction: a civil war from 1975 to 1990, conflicts with Israel, and periodic terrorist attacks.
For decades, Lebanon has been ruled by the same political elites, adding many former warlords and commanders of the civil war defense forces. Ruling factions use public establishments to collect wealth and distribute sponsorship to their followers. Three decades after the end of the civil war, power cuts remain frequent, debris is not selected and tap water is largely unbearable.
Rescue groups discovered four more bodies in the harbor destroyed in the more than 24 hours, adding that of Joe Akiki, 23, an employee missing since the explosion. Its structure discovered near a grain silo that was shattered along with other buildings in the port.
Outside the harbour area, they cried as they waited for news of missing relatives.
The explosion devastated nearby residential neighborhoods, blew up windows and destroyed facades for miles around.
Many debris-covered streets were cleared, mainly through thousands of volunteers who moved to the hardest-hit neighborhoods, a sign that Lebanese had to rely on themselves rather than government action.
They swept damaged glass and reopened roads, helped restaurants and department stores remove debris and recover their products. They separated the debris into piles of damaged glass and mutilated metal. Others volunteered to enter destroyed homes to search for medicines, valuables and documents for citizens who fled panicked.
French and Russian rescue groups with dogs searched the port’s dominance on Friday, a day after French President Emmanuel Macron visited the site, promising, but not easy, a reform of Lebanon’s political leaders.
“Our delight in demonstrations that we can locate other people alive up to 72, 75 or 80 hours after an explosion or earthquake, so for now we’re still on time and we’re holding on to that hope,” said Colonel Vincent Tissier, head of the French team.
According to an initial government assessment, another 300,000 people, more than 12% of Beirut’s population, had to leave homes broken or uninhabitable due to the explosion. Many of them have returned since then, or live in houses at the moment or with friends and family. The government estimated losses between $10 billion and $15 billion.
Damaged hospitals, the coronavirus strain, are suffering to deal with the wounded.
Even before the explosion, the country sank into a serious economic crisis that also largely blamed the political class. Unemployment soared and the collapse of the local currency wiped out the savings of many people. This will make it even more difficult to rebuild after the explosion.
Macron said France would lead foreign efforts to provide aid but would give “blank checks to a formula that no longer has the confidence of its people.”
France, which has close ties to its former colony, also sent a team of 22 investigators to investigate the cause of the explosion. According to data from Lebanon so far, the head of the French forensic police, Dominique Abbenanti, said Friday that the explosion “appears to be an accident”, but that it is too early to say for sure.
In an interview with The Associated Press, he predicted that “the number of victims will increase.”
French investigators are concerned about Lebanon’s request and also because a French citizen was killed and at least 40 injured in the explosion.
French police may be witnesses or suspects, said Eric Berot, head of a unit involved in the investigation. For now, the French team is dividing the spaces to be covered with their oppos lebanese numbers and will use drones to examine the area.
“It’s huge. It’s a huge job,” Berot said. The investigation is confusing due to the wide scale of damage and “the Lebanese situation,” he said, referring to the political and economic crisis.
The UN Human Rights Office called for an independent investigation, insisting that “calls for those affected to be accountable will have to be heard.”
Rupert Colville, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, spoke of the need for the foreign network to reach Lebanon through immediate reaction and sustained commitment.
He said Lebanon is facing the “triple tragedy of the socioeconomic crisis, COVID-19 and the explosion of ammonium nitrate.” Colville suggested lebanese leaders “overcome political stalemates and respond to the grievances of the people.”