Huge Fire Erupts Again In Devastated Beirut

By Stefan J. Bos, Special Correspondent Worthy News

(Worthy News) – A massive fire erupted at the Beirut port on Thursday, just weeks after a massive blast at the same site devastated the Lebanese capital.

Witnesses saw dark smoke and could smell toxic fumes enveloping throughout Beirut in the evening. Army helicopters circled and sprayed water over the orange flames, helping firefighters on the ground.

Several nearby residents rushed to seek safety in closed bathrooms or threw open their windows to guard against shattering glass in case of another blast. Others piled into cars to flee the capital. No injuries were reported.

By nightfall, authorities said most flames had been extinguished. Reporters saw smoke still rising from smoldering wreckage, but it was far less dense.

It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze at the port. But Lebanese President Michel Aoun told the Supreme Defence Council the fire could have been the result of sabotage, technical error, or negligence. He said the cause had to be uncovered quickly.

COOKING OIL

The Lebanese army said the blaze on Thursday appeared to have started when cooking oil caught fire and spread to stores of tires. Television footage had shown flames near a pile of tires in a warehouse ruined in last month’s explosion.

The fire came while people in Beirut are still recovering of the August 4 explosion at the same site, the most destructive blast in Lebanon’s war-tainted history.

At least 191 people were killed, and about 6,500 injured when nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate blew up, sending out a shock wave. Thousands of buildings were also destroyed in that blast.  

The fire Thursday was expected to increase anxiety in Christian neighborhoods of East Beirut that were mostly hit by last month’s explosion.

AID THREATENED

The blast in August was “damaging churches, and Christian ministries, with many Christians amongst the injured, homeless and dead,” explained Christian aid group, Barnabas Fund, in an earlier statement to Worthy News.

Thursday’s fire was further threatening international aid to Lebanon, which is also caring for 1.5 million refugees, many from war-torn Syria.

The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed it had aid in a warehouse that was on fire. “Our humanitarian operation risks to be seriously disrupted,” ICRC Middle East director Fabrizio Carboni warned on social media.

Beirut’s port is used by aid agencies to supply refugees in Lebanon and people in need in neighboring Syria.

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