Lebanon: Sections of Beirut's Blast-Stricken Grain Silos Collapse

Sections of Beirut’s grain silos collapsed on Sunday after weakening during a weeks-long fire caused by recent high temperatures that fermented the silos’ grain stores, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported, noting that the silos were infamous for shielding much of western Beirut from an August 2020 port explosion and sustaining partial damage from the blast themselves.

“AFP correspondents said a cloud of dust covered Beirut’s port, while local media reported that two towers fell in the heavily damaged silos’ northern section, where a fire has been burning for more than two weeks,” the news agency reported on July 31.

“Footage of the incident showed part of the silo crumbling and a large cloud billowing up after debris hit the ground,” AFP relayed.

The Associated Press (AP) reported on July 22 that a fire had been burning at Beirut’s grain silos “for the past two weeks.” The blaze began after high summer temperatures caused the silos’ 800 tons of wheat and corn stores to ferment. Lebanon’s government said that the fire grew larger “after flames reached nearby electrical cables.”

Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, warned that Beirut’s northern group of silos was “in danger of falling” in a statement issued on July 27.

Beirut’s grain silos were already damaged by a nearby explosion at the Port of Beirut in August 2020 before this summer’s fire broke out, making the effects of the recent blaze all the worse. Lebanon’s main port suffered a massive explosion on August 4, 2020, after negligently stored ammonium nitrate — a chemical component of fertilizer — at the site ignited. The blast killed 200-plus people and wounded an additional 6,500.

Mikati ordered Lebanon’s army on July 27 to prepare for the collapse of the silos’ northern section. He further warned relevant civil defense staff and firefighters to maintain a safe distance from the silos from that day forward. Lebanon’s environment and health ministries advised Beirut’s public on July 27 to evacuate the general area surrounding the silos and to wear sanitary masks if in the site’s vicinity. The ministries further instructed locals to seal all windows and doors of their residences for the next 24 hours.

Lebanon’s government on April 14 ordered the demolition of Beirut’s grain silos citing concerns that they might collapse in the coming months due to damage sustained in August 2020. People who wanted to preserve the silos as a memorial site to the victims of the August 2020 Port of Beirut explosion objected to the planned action through a handful of lawsuits that were pending as of mid-June.

Efforts to determine responsibility for the Port of Beirut’s explosion in August 2020 have repeatedly stalled in the two years since the tragedy, which not only eviscerated parts of the Lebanese capital but also destroyed much of the beleaguered nation’s food supply at the now collapsing grain silos.

“Lebanese government officials —including President Michel Aoun and then-Prime Minister Hassan Diab — had previous knowledge of the explosive material stored unsafely in the port, but failed to do anything about it,” the National, a U.A.E.-based newspaper, reported on June 16, referring to the ammonium nitrate stores.

“[M]ultiple Lebanese authorities were, at a minimum, criminally negligent under Lebanese law in their handling of the cargo, creating an unreasonable risk to life,” Human Rights Watch concluded in August 2021 citing evidence available at the time.

Lebanon is set to receive the first ship of Ukrainian grain allowed to leave the country under an agreement between Kyiv and Moscow on Monday. The ship left Odessa, Ukraine, and is set to land in the port of Tripoli, Lebanon.