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PORT SILOS

Another portion of the port silos collapsed overnight

Another portion of the port silos collapsed overnight

The silos of the port of Beirut, devoured by flames, on Aug. 18, 2022. (Credit: Joseph Eid/AFP)

BEIRUT — Another portion of the northern bloc of silos at the Beirut port partially collapsed overnight, a Lebanese Army source confirmed to L'Orient Today.

Here's what we know:

   • Videos shared on social media networks shortly before 2 a.m. showed the silos consumed by flames as a section appears to crumble.

   • Caretaker Public Works Minister Ali Hamieh had said over the weekend that the fall of another section of the northern bloc of silos at the Beirut port was "expected" and that "security services are following up on the matter on the ground, and all employees have been evacuated from the vicinity of the port silos, including the civil defense centers and the fire brigade." A spokesperson for the minister could not provide any information on the latest collapse Monday.

   • During a meeting on Wednesday between caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, caretaker Environment Minister Nasser Yassin and Forces of Change MPs Najat Aoun Saliba and Melhem Khalaf, officials made a decision to demolish only the already collapsing northern block of the grain silos but preserve the more stable southern side, in addition to extinguishing the fire at the silos that has been ablaze for more than a month. However, no demolition work has taken place yet.

   • Previously, eight silos from the northern block had collapsed — four fell on July 31 and another four on Aug. 4, on the second anniversary of the Beirut explosion. Experts have said that the collapse of additional silos from the northern block is inevitable.

   • A delegation of the families of the victims of the Aug. 4, 2022 port blast met Saliba and Khalaf on Saturday, where they "stressed the need for the Prime Minister’s decisions to be accompanied by an urgent implementation before it is too late" and said that "the executive authority alone bears the responsibility for all the failures in this file... if it does not act now and immediately in order to preserve the rest of the silos, especially on the southern side," the families said in a statement.

BEIRUT — Another portion of the northern bloc of silos at the Beirut port partially collapsed overnight, a Lebanese Army source confirmed to L'Orient Today.Here's what we know:   • Videos shared on social media networks shortly before 2 a.m. showed the silos consumed by flames as a section appears to crumble.   • Caretaker Public Works Minister Ali Hamieh had said over...