German company removes dangerous material from Beirut port
The Lebanese government is also seeking satellite images other countries have of the Beirut port explosion site.
A German ship has removed dangerous materials from Beirut’s port. The effort is part of the Lebanese government’s response to the deadly explosion in the port last year.
A ship from the Germany forklift manufacturer Combilift brought out 59 containers of “extremely dangerous material” from Beirut’s port and unspecified other locations, according to a tweet Wednesday from Lebanon’s prime minister’s office.
A massive explosion ripped through Beirut in August 2020 after 2,750 tons of the flammable fertilizer ammonium nitrate caught on fire and exploded. The material was being stored in a warehouse in the port. The blast killed more than 200 people and injured many more, in addition to destroying much of the city and displacing hundreds of thousands.
The explosion exacerbated Lebanon’s already harrowing economic crisis. Prime Minister Hassan Diab and his entire cabinet resigned in the explosion’s aftermath, but they remain in power as a caretaker government because politicians still have not formed a new government.
