Explosion in Beirut, The Rhosus and Hanger 12
I've read and heard a lot of mis-information about this, this Link to the New York Times article from Yahoo sums up the multiple inactions that lead to this:
Blame for Beirut Explosion Begins With a Leaky, Troubled Ship
Here is a short version,
The Rhosus, which flew the flag of Moldova, arrived in Beirut in November 2013, two months after it left the Black Sea port of Batumi, Georgia. The ship was leased by Igor Grechushkin, a Russian businessman living in Cyprus.Prokoshev, the captain, joined the ship in Turkey after a mutiny over unpaid wages by a previous crew. Grechushkin had been paid $1 million to transport the high-density ammonium nitrate to the port of Beira in Mozambique, the captain said.
Senior customs officials wrote to the Lebanese courts at least six times from 2014 to 2017, seeking guidance on how to dispose of the ammonium nitrate, according to public records posted to social media by a Lebanese lawmaker, Salim Aoun.
“In view of the serious danger posed by keeping this shipment in the warehouses in an inappropriate climate,” Shafik Marei, the director of Lebanese customs, wrote in May 2016, “we repeat our request to demand the maritime agency to re-export the materials immediately.”
The customs officials proposed a number of solutions, including donating the ammonium nitrate to the Lebanese army or selling it to the privately owned Lebanese Explosives Co. Marei sent a second, similar letter a year later. The judiciary failed to respond to any of his pleas, the records suggested.
The ammonium nitrate was purchased by the International Bank of Mozambique for Fábrica de Explosivos de Moçambique, a firm that makes commercial explosives, according to Baroudi and Partners, a Lebanese law firm representing the ship’s crew, in a statement issued Wednesday.
Grechushkin, who was in Cyprus at the time and communicating by telephone, told the captain he didn’t have enough money to pay for passage through the Suez Canal. So he sent the ship to Beirut to earn some cash by taking on an additional cargo of heavy machinery.
But in Beirut, the machinery would not fit into the ship, which was about 30 or 40 years old, the captain said.
Then Lebanese officials found the ship unseaworthy and impounded the vessel for failing to pay the port docking fees and other charges. When the ship’s suppliers tried to contact Grechushkin for payment for fuel, food and other essentials, he could not be reached, having apparently abandoned the ship he had leased.
The crew’s departure left the Lebanese authorities in charge of the ship’s deadly cargo, which was moved to a storage facility known as Hangar 12, where it remained until the explosion Tuesday.
The general manager of Beirut’s port, Hassan Koraytem, said in an interview that customs and security officials made repeated requests to Lebanon’s courts to have the volatile material moved. “But nothing happened,” he said.
“We were told the cargo would be sold in an auction,” he added. “But the auction never happened, and the judiciary never acted.”
But for many Lebanese, the story is another sign of the chronic mismanagement of a ruling class that steered the country into a punishing economic crisis this year.
Captain Prokoshev, who said he is still owed $60,000 in wages, placed the fault with Grechushkin, and with Lebanese officials, who insisted on first impounding the boat and then on keeping the ammonium nitrate in the port “instead of spreading it on their fields.”
“They could have had very good crops instead of a huge explosion,” he said.
As for the Rhosus, Prokoshev learned from friends who sailed to Beirut that it had sunk in the harbor in 2015 or 2016 after taking water on board, he said.
No Politics here, so I wouldn't expect this to be Locked Down.
Like most when I first heard about this, I thought some type of bombing, terrorist, air strike ... etc.
You know the ole Would of, Could of, Should of ??
I've read that many of the surrounding Hangers that were destroyed held as much as 85% of The City's total grain supply. Now trying to deal with the homeless and hungry citizens. I believe this is a ticking time bomb.
Also I've read 20%+ of the casualties are children.
The USA, among the first to respond, has already dispatched three C-17's filled with med eqpt/supplies
Matthew 5:9
Customs and Port Officials Arrested
Original Shipment Designation:
Mozambique denies knowledge of ship tied to explosion
Mozambican port authorities denied any knowledge of the ship carrying the cargo of ammonium nitrate said to have caused the devastating explosion in Beirut.
They were reacting to widespread reports that the ammonium nitrate had arrived in Lebanon in 2013 on board a Moldovan-flagged ship sailing from Georgia and bound for the central port city of Beira.
"The port operator was not aware that the vessel MV Rhosus would dock at the port of Beira," the Beira ports authority said in a statement.
Tables Turned:
Lebanon central bank freezes accounts of port, customs officials
Lebanon's central bank has ordered a freeze on the accounts of the heads of Beirut Port and Lebanese Customs Officials along with others, according to a central bank directive seen by Reuters news agency and confirmed by the central bank.
The directive, dated August 6 and coming from the central bank special investigation commission for money laundering and terrorism fighting, said the decision would be circulated to all banks and financial institutions in Lebanon.
Though it looks as though it was the inactions by the Lebanese courts that in the end led to the AN still being stored there.
It was the Port and Customs officials that were seeking guidance from the Courts to resolve the storage problem.
Senior customs officials wrote to the Lebanese courts at least six times from 2014 to 2017, seeking guidance on how to dispose of the ammonium nitrate, according to public records posted to social media by a Lebanese lawmaker, Salim Aoun.“In view of the serious danger posed by keeping this shipment in the warehouses in an inappropriate climate,” Shafik Marei, the director of Lebanese customs, wrote in May 2016, “we repeat our request to demand the maritime agency to re-export the materials immediately.”
The customs officials proposed a number of solutions, including donating the ammonium nitrate to the Lebanese army or selling it to the privately owned Lebanese Explosives Co. Marei sent a second, similar letter a year later. The judiciary failed to respond to any of his pleas, the records suggested.
But the Central Bank Freezes the Port and Customs officials personal funds, this includes workers.
Also many Port and Customs workers have been detained by order of............ Lebanon's military court !!
Reports say up to 20 being held, maybe more.
Someone set off the first blast that was caused by a fire. This isn't the US with NO Bond to Post, Some will hang when ruled Guilty.
Citizens can not access their bank accounts which are frozen/locked by the Government.
So figure in being P!ssed off, Hungry, Homeless and Broke all while trying to fight off the Covid and having over 1,5 million refugees in country from the Syrian civil war. Protests are building...... Tear gas in the streets ... etc.
The next 'Bomb' is ticking and I fear it will be larger.
Seems the Courts can do as they please and don't have to answer to anyone. Sounds familiar doesn't it ?
On a Good Note many countries are coming together to help. The citizens will remember these efforts and be Thankful. Question now is will the Government do likewise ?
Good Weekend All.
Charlie-P777
