Canisters that were leaking sulfuric acid, at Beirut port, June 16, 2022. (Photo: NNA)
BEIRUT — A sulfuric acid leak from a shipping container stored at Beirut port was stopped Thursday, the state-run National News Agency reported.
Here’s what we know:
• Beirut Fire Brigade’s Chemical Biological, Radio Nuclear Events Preparedness Program worked since Thursday morning to staunch the flow of sulfuric acid leaking from gallon canisters stored at Beirut port.
• The team was eventually able to remove the canisters, and safely isolate them in another container at the port.The cargo’s owner, the fire brigade said, will move it within a short time.
• On Aug. 4, 2020, a massive explosion occurred at Beirut port when huge quantities of haphazardly stored ammonium nitrate in a warehouse caught fire and detonated, causing destruction in large swathes of the capital.
• The domestic investigation of the blast, initiated within days of the tragedy, has been repeatedly hampered in its efforts to question public officials. It is currently suspended because senior politicians — including MPs Ghazi Zeaitar, Ali Hassan Khalil and former Public Works Minister Yousef Fenianos — have lodged numerous requests to remove the head of the investigation, Judge Tarek Bitar.