An FBI investigation into the deadly explosion in a Beirut warehouse on Aug. 4 last year involving ammonium nitrate (AN) that rocked the Lebanese capital, killing 218 people and injuring more than 5,000, found that just one-fifth of the original shipment exploded.
The findings of the FBI probe, which were published on July 30 by Reuters, found only 552 mt of the original 2,754 mt of AN that arrived in Beirut port seven years before the blast went up in flames on the day of the explosion.
The FBI investigation did not provide a reason for the discrepancy or indicate where the remainder of the AN may have gone, according to the report. But it adds to suspicions that most of the stockpile in the warehouse went missing or was diverted before the August 2020 fire and explosion.
According to Reuters and other media reports this week, many officials in Beirut believe that much of the shipment was stolen, while others said not all of the cargo detonated.
The 2013 shipment was loaded in the Georgian port of Batumi aboard the MV Rhosus, a Russian-leased ship steaming under the Moldovan flag. According to the shipping documents, the ship and the cargo were headed for Mozambique. However, the ship was instructed to make an unscheduled stop in Beirut, reportedly to pick up additional cargo to help boost its Russian lessee’s earnings. But the Beirut port authorities detained the ship as it was deemed to be unseaworthy, as well as a dispute over unpaid port fees, according to an Associated Press report at the time, citing the ship’s captain.
The impounded AN cargo was subsequently transferred to the port’s hangar 12 in October 2014, where it remained for the next six years.
Evidence to date has raised questions regarding whether the AN was intended for Mozambique, and whether Beirut was the intended destination.
The detonation of the AN, which was reported to have been triggered by a fire in a nearby warehouse filled with fireworks, caused one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, decimating the port and damaging over half of the city.
Media reports talk of longstanding corruption and mismanagement at the port, with systemic problems in Lebanon’s legal and political system allegedly allowing senior officials to avoid accountability.
The Beirut Bar Association on Aug. 2 filed a lawsuit in the High Court of Justice in London against U.K. company Savaro Ltd., the importer of the AN that exploded.
The lawsuit seeks indemnification for, among other things, “the failure to take any actions to secure or properly dispose of the ammonium nitrate, causing death, injury, loss, and damage to the Claimants in the Beirut Port Explosion, for which the Claimants hold Savaro Ltd. liable together with other parties.”
The civil action was filed in a London court due to Savaro Ltd. being incorporated in the U.K. with offices in London, and therefore subject to the jurisdiction of English courts, according to media reports, citing Melhem Khalaf, President of the Beirut Bar Association.