FBI probe: Chemicals in Beirut blast fraction of original shipment
The amount of ammonium nitrate that exploded at a Beirut port last year was one-fifth of the shipment unloaded there in 2013, the FBI concluded after the blast, adding to suspicions much of the cargo had gone missing.
As the first anniversary of the blast approaches on Aug. 4,
major questions remain unanswered, including how a huge quantity of ammonium
nitrate – which can be used to make fertilizer or bombs – was left unsafely
stored in a capital city for years.
The blast was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions ever
recorded, killing more than 200 people, wounding thousands, and devastating
swathes of Beirut.
The FBI's Oct. 7, 2020 report, which was seen by Reuters
this week, estimates around 552 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded that day,
much less than the 2,754 tons that arrived on a Russian-leased cargo ship in
2013.
The FBI report did not give any explanation as to how the
discrepancy arose or where the rest of the shipment may have gone.
In response to a detailed request for comment, an FBI
spokesperson referred Reuters to Lebanese authorities.
FBI investigators arrived in Beirut after the blast at
Lebanon's request.
A senior Lebanese official who was aware of the FBI report
and its findings said the Lebanese authorities agreed with the bureau on the
quantity that exploded.
Many officials in Lebanon have previously said in private
they believe a lot of the shipment was stolen.
The ammonium nitrate was headed to Mozambique from Georgia
on a Russian-leased cargo ship when the captain says he was instructed to make
an unscheduled stop in Beirut and take on extra cargo.
The ship arrived in Beirut in November 2013 but never left,
becoming tangled in a legal dispute over unpaid port fees and ship defects. No
one ever came forward to claim the shipment.
The senior Lebanese official said there were no firm
conclusions as to why the quantity that exploded was less than the original
shipment. One theory was that part of it was stolen. A second theory was that
only part of the shipment detonated, with the rest blown out to sea, the
official said.
The FBI report said, "an approximate amount reaching
around 552 metric tons of ammonium nitrate exploded in Warehouse 12."
It noted the warehouse was large enough to house the
2,754-ton shipment, which was stored in one-ton bags but added "it is not
logical that all of them were present at the time of the explosion."
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