The coincidence is sinister and hardly believable: on the eve of the commemoration of the explosion which destroyed part of Beirut two years ago, a limited part of the grain silos of the port collapsed, Sunday, July 31, in a huge cloud of dust. This building, some fifty meters high, had been heavily damaged by the deadly double explosion on August 4, 2020; by absorbing part of the blast, it had served as a rampart for the western part of the capital. Imposing silhouette dominating the port, in the heart of the capital, the silos have become an emblem of the cataclysm caused by the detonation of a huge stock of ammonium nitrate kept carelessly near homes.
In recent days, when a fire had recently ignited in the building, television cameras watched for the fall of the structure, which the authorities considered imminent. The spectacular, albeit partial, collapse that occurred on Sunday, affecting the unstable part of the complex, did not prevent Lebanese from coming to photograph the blackened facade and the rubble at its foot, on the side of the sea. The scene, then , is surprising: onlookers are there, their faces protected by a simple mask. The air makes your head spin. A helicopter flies over the silos several times, dropping water.
“We have been living with a burning smell for three weeks, which is surely very harmful! Let’s put an end to this fire! », launches Omar (he only gave his first name), a resident of Quarantine, a district adjoining the port. He did not hear the sound of the partial, rapid collapse: it was the video, shared on social networks, which alerted him.
Lack of transparency
In this part of the city, in recent days, many have speculated on an intentional origin of the repeated fires which broke out in early July inside the old wheat reserve. The lack of transparency of the authorities fueling a little more confusion on this subject. According to the outgoing government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati, the fire was caused by the fermentation of cereals under the effect of the summer heat. Thousands of tons were not cleared after the explosion, due to fears of the structure collapsing. The fire accelerated the tilt of the weakened building.
On several occasions, firefighters were mobilized to extinguish the flames, before being ordered to leave the scene, because of the danger. The population of the neighborhoods near the port had received succinct advice upstream: close the windows and wear a mask. Sunday evening, experts and officials issued conflicting opinions on the possible continuation of the collapse.
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