The Lebanese army said on Thursday it had discovered 4.35 tonnes of ammonium nitrate close to the entrance to Beirut port, the site a huge blast west off last month caused by a large deposit of the same highly explosive chemical.
Army engineers were “dealing with it,” according to an army statement reported by the state news agency NNA. The statement revealed that the chemicals were discovered just outside entrance nine to the port.
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The devastating blast which happened on August 4 tore through the city and killed at least 190 people. According to authorities, the explosion was said to have been caused by about 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that had been stacked in unsafe conditions in a port warehouse for years.
The blast destroyed entire neighbourhoods, pulling buildings to the ground, injuring 6,000 people and displacing people from their homes. The rubble from the blast could fill an entire country.
The Lebanese government quit amid public anger in a nation already turned on its head by an economic crisis. The public remains anxious that more hazardous materials are being stored in terrible conditions, posing potential risk.
Earlier on Thursday, President Michel Aoun ordered repairs to be made to old refuelling infrastructure at Beirut airport and called for an investigation into a report that thousands of litres of fuel had leaked from the system.
Beirut airport head Fadi el-Hassan told a news conference that a leak of 84,000 litres of fuel had occurred in March 2019 and repairs were completed in two months. He said international investigators had described the repairs as “satisfactory”.
News of the leak spiked concerns about public safety. “No explosion is awaiting us,” Hassan told the news conference.
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