The death toll from the deadly blast at the capital Beirut’s port area has climbed to 137, with around 5,000 people wounded and dozens others missing.
The new casualty figures on Thursday (August 6) morning include at least 5,000 injured and a health ministry spokesman said dozens were still missing. “This toll is not final,” he said.
As volunteers worked with the army to clean up shattered streets, buildings and hospitals, the government said it had formed an investigation committee to look into the explosion, which appears to have been set off by 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that had been stored at the port since 2014.
Lebanese officials have started blaming each other for leaving the highly explosive substance sitting so close to residential neighbourhoods for six years. The ammonium nitrate was taken from a ship that docked in Beirut in 2013 and was apparently abandoned by its Russian owner and mostly Ukrainian crew.
Badri Daher, the director general of Lebanese customs, said on Wednesday his office had sent six letters to the country’s judiciary urging them to deal with the chemicals either by exporting the load, reselling it or giving it to the army.
An unspecified number of port officials have been ordered to be placed under house arrest pending the investigation, which is scheduled to take five days. It will report to the national cabinet, which will refer its findings to the judiciary.
Amnesty International was among the organisations calling for an independent investigation into the circumstances leading up to the explosion.❐
Agencies
