EXPLOSION IN BEIRUT: WHO WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR 3000 TONS OF AMMONIUM NITRATE?

The explosion of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate in the port of Beirut claimed many lives and caused catastrophic damage to the urban area. Later it turned out that the bankrupt resident of Khabarovsk Igor Grechushkin was the owner of the Rhosus vessel, which transported dangerous goods several years ago.

The businessman himself has been living in Cyprus in recent years and does not plan to take responsibility for the explosion. Many Russian experts also doubt that such responsibility may be incurred.

The chairman of the Far East branch of the RLUS (labor union of seafarers) believes that the authorities of the seaport where the ship was located should bear responsibility for the explosion.

The fact is that the vessel, which entered the port of Beirut in 2013, was arrested by the authorities for a number of violations. As a result, the owner of the ship was forced to go to abandon, having abandoned the ship, the cargo, and the crew. In addition, according to a number of sources, the cargo was subsequently discharged to the warehouse. Thus, the representatives of the Lebanese Ministry of Transport assumed responsibility.

The crew cannot be held responsible for the ship as well. Some crew members had to spend almost a year on the ship and service it, despite the lack of salaries. It is known that the ship sailed from Georgia to Mozambique under the "convenient", as the experts say, flag of Moldova.

Such a situation is convenient because of the fact that in this case, it becomes rather difficult to find the real owner of the vessel.

According to the official documents of 2014, the registered owner of the ship is the Bulgarian company Briar Wood Corporation.

It is known that in 2015, four sailors who remained in Beirut, having received no help from the Russian Foreign Ministry or the owner of the ship, were able to hire the lawyers from Baroudi & Associates and return home. According to information from the captain of the ship, Grechushkin himself paid for the sailors' trip from Beirut to Odessa, but never paid the salary for the voyage.

As a result, the responsibility, apparently, fully falls on the actions of the local authorities, who did not take the necessary security measures to protect the citizens from a possible disaster.

Such information is voiced by the Lebanese security forces, pointing to the welding work as the main cause of the explosion. The same information was announced by the Lebanese Prime Minister.

Ammonium nitrate that had been stored in the port for about six years led to an explosion that killed 135 people. About 80 more local residents disappeared. More than 4 thousand people received physical injuries.