Ripped chemical bags added to risk of Beirut blast

Enlarge / A view of the Port of Beirut on August 13 after a fire at a warehouse with explosives led to massive blasts on August 4. (credit: Aysu Bicer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Lebanese officials knew that more than half the bags of a 2,750-ton stockpile of ammonium nitrate that caused a deadly explosion in Beirut were damaged six years ago but took no action to dispose of the chemical.

A 2014 inspection report by Beirut port authorities, seen by the Financial Times, labels the chemical as explosives" and said that 1,950 of the 2,750 one-tonne bags filled with the chemical were torn." Photos of the stockpile taken the following year, also seen by the FT, show the huge sacks appearing to be stacked haphazardly on top of each other and ammonium nitrate spilling from large rips in the industrial bags.

The evidence will increase concerns that negligence and poor management were the root cause of the blast at the port, which killed more than 170 people and devastated the capital. Prime Minister Hassan Diab blamed political corruption" for the tragedy as he resigned on Monday.

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