In the Lebanese capital, firefighters said after hours of smuggling smoke in the capital on Friday that they had managed to contain a huge fire that had scared the city's residents, killing five weeks after a major explosion killed thousands. People were injured.
As a result of the blaze, authorities
ordered the removal of all hazardous materials from the country's ports and
airports to prevent further incidents that have taken the nation to five
million. Military police have already launched an investigation into the fire.
It was not immediately clear if the blaze
was caused’ by a blaze on Thursday afternoon and the city was covered in dark
smoke and toxic fumes. No one was hurt by the fire, the second at the port this
week.
The head of Lebanon's civil defense said
the fire had been contained on Friday and firefighters were working to cool the
area.
Several Beirut residents opened their
apartment windows and hid in corridors for fear of recurrence on August 4, with
192 blasts, 6,500 injured, a quarter of a million homeless and billions of
dollars in damage. An explosion of nearly 3,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate
stored at the port for six years forced the government to resign with a six-day
replacement.
The port blast is still under
investigation and negligence and mismanagement appear to be one of the main
reasons. Corruption is rampant in Lebanon, where sectarian groups have ruled
the country since the end of the 15-year civil war in 1990.
"The fire in the port of Beirut
cannot be ignored, no matter what. Accountability is an important condition
that such traumatic events are not, repeated. Adib, a French citizen of
Lebanese descent, won a majority in parliament last week to form a new cabinet.
The High Defense Council, following a
meeting of the country's top security body on Thursday night, said in a
statement that it had discussed the presence of hazardous materials at the
country's ports and international airports alone in order to destroy them. To
save them from "any catastrophic accident." Events
In a sign of growing distrust in the
aftermath of the blast, many Lebanese politicians have accused them of
deliberately trying to destroy evidence at the port that led to the blast.
Thursday's fire was the second wave to mysteriously set in there this week.
Panic spread after a small fire this Tuesday, but was quickly contained.
Fear was heightened’ by fears that more
chemicals could be found in the port's wreckage. Earlier this month, the
military said it had found more than four tonnes of ammonium nitrate in four
containers near the port, which it said had been "disposed of."
Outgoing Minister for Construction and
Stability Michel Najjar, who is in charge of the port ministry, told a local TV
station that the fire appeared to have been caused’ by sparks from an
electrical device while working on the port.
Lebanon is in the grip of an extraordinary
economic crisis and financial catastrophe, blamed on decades of continued
mismanagement and corruption by a section of the political profession. Last
month's bombing was seen’ as the culmination of leaders' failure to handle the
country's affairs or protect its people. So far, authorities have failed to
respond to the blast and have not been held’ accountable.
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