Pascal Arogorn Ibe
A huge fire raged in Beirut port on
Thursday, AFP correspondents said,
sparking alarm among Lebanese still
reeling from a devastating dockside
explosion that disfigured the capital last
month.
Thick black columns of smoke rose into
the sky, as the army said the blaze had
engulfed a warehouse storing oil and tyres.
It was not immediately clear what caused
the blaze.
“Operations have begun to extinguish the
fire and army helicopters will take part,” the
military said in a statement on Twitter.
Social media users posted video footage,
which sparked alarm among Beirut
residents only just recovering from the
country’s deadliest peace-time disaster.
“Insane fire at the port, causing a panic all
across Beirut. We just can’t catch a break,”
Human Rights Watch researcher Aya
Majzoub wrote on Twitter.
The August 4 explosion of hundreds of
tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser at the
port killed more than 190 people, wounded
thousands and ravaged large parts of the
capital.
The blast sparked widespread outrage after
it emerged authorities had been aware of
the presence of the huge stockpile, and
prompted the government to resign.
Human rights researcher Omar Nashabe
tweeted: “Where are we living? This is the
scene of the crime a month ago! Where is
the judiciary? Where is the state? Where is
responsibility?”
The port blast piled new misery on
Lebanese already battling the coronavirus
pandemic and the country’s worst
economic crisis in decades, which has seen
poverty rates double to more than half the
population.
AFP
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