Eight more grain silos collapse at Beirut port, just weeks after two-year anniversary blast
- Silos toppled, succumbing to damage from a devastating 2020 explosion that killed more than 200 people. It is the third such collapse in a month
- Crash sent a cloud of brown-grey dust billowing over the waterfront local television reported. There were no immediate reports of injuries
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The northern section of the grain silos damaged two years ago by a blast at the Beirut port collapsed early on Tuesday after warnings the structure was leaning too far to stay up.
In total eight more grain silos toppled, the third such collapse in a month, Agence France-Presse correspondents reported.
The crash sent a cloud of brown-grey dust billowing over the waterfront, the LBCI television station reported. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
The remaining southern block is more stable and not at imminent risk of collapse, said French civil engineer Emmanuel Durand, who has installed sensors on the silos.
The huge explosion at the port on August 4, 2020, killed more than 220 people and gutted the northern section of the grain silos, leaving wheat and corn spilling out in the sun.
The silos absorbed much of the impact of the massive explosion of haphazardly stored ammonium nitrate fertiliser two years ago.
Recently, a fire had been smouldering in the silos for weeks, which officials said was the result of summer heat igniting fermenting grain left rotting.
Part of the structure collapsed on July 31 and another section fell on August 4, the second anniversary of the blast.
On Sunday, the health ministry said dust samples from around the port showed that the air contained high amounts of common mould, which would not be dangerous unless inhaled in large quantities over a long period of time.
In April, the government ordered the silos’ demolition but the operation was put on hold, partly because of objections from relatives of blast victims who want them preserved as a memorial.
Public Works Minister Ali Hamieh announced last week that the government had agreed to reserve 25,000 square metres (270,000 square feet) of the port to build new grain silos.
This is larger than the current complex which occupies a space of 21,000 square metres (226,000 square feet).
Hamieh said funding would come from international donors as well as the government, which has been bankrupted by a crushing financial crisis.
