Green light for extinguishing the fire that broke out ten days ago in the remains of the port of Beirut

The Lebanese Fire Services expect to start in the next few hours the tasks of extinguishing the fire declared ten days ago in the silos of the port of Beirut, destroyed in the gigantic explosions of August 2020.

The authorities had so far been opposed to carrying out the extinguishing work for fear that the remains of the silos could fall on top of the firefighters.

“We went last night to the burning silos, accompanied by some relatives of the victims of the explosion. We insisted on contacting the ministers concerned. The heads of Public Works, Environment and Economy replied that they were present. It was agreed, in our presence, to extinguish the fire, in cooperation with the Lebanese Army,” said MP Melhem Jalaf on his Twitter account.

The MP hopes that this agreement “will be implemented today,” amid requests from collectives and relatives of victims to preserve this symbolic site, while the authorities intend to destroy it, claiming that it threatens to collapse at any moment.

The explosions left more than 200 dead and around 6,500 injured, while displacing some 300,000 people and causing huge material damage in the city, whose port was destroyed, causing the transfer of import operations to the much smaller and less capacious Tripoli port.

The country is also facing a severe economic crisis that began in 2019 and has been worsened by the protracted political crisis and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, causing poverty to increase.