This was just 2.7 thousand (tons).". It's absolutely not common," the spokesperson said. CNN made several unsuccessful attempts to reach Grechushkin on a Cyprus telephone number. Daher confirmed to CNN earlier on Wednesday that his office sent "a total of six letters to the legal authorities" but that the authorities never responded to any of their letters. Ammonium nitrate, the material that appears to have caused the massive explosion that devastated Beirut on Tuesday, has been behind some of the largest accidental explosions and terrorist … "What I felt was that it was an earthquake," Beirut resident Rania Masri told CNN. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced. An investigation into the explosion was announced by Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab. Rescue workers search for missing people at the site of the explosion. Substance that reportedly sparked Beirut explosions was used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing August 6, 2020 / 7:17 AM / AFP Ammonium nitrate, which Lebanese authorities have said … Here's what you told us, Doctor who discovered Ebola warns of deadly viruses yet to come, British man becomes viral sensation after interview with CNN, Dancing doctors celebrate coronavirus vaccine arrival, Jupiter and Saturn appear closer than they have for 800 years, Video shows Navalny on the phone with Russian spy, Cancer survivor explains why vulnerable need vaccine sooner. A rescue worker walks along a pile of rubble at the explosion site in Beirut, Lebanon, on Saturday, August 8. Documents newly reviewed by CNN reveal that a shipment of 2,750 metric tons of, Once it arrived, the ship never left Beirut's port, according Lebanon's Director of Customs, Badri Daher, despite repeated warnings by him and others that the cargo was the equivalent of "a floating bomb.". They would eventually abandon the ship. This aerial photo, taken on Wednesday, shows ruined structures at the port. (CNN)As Lebanon's investigation into the devastating blast in Beirut continues, officials have pointed to a possible cause: A massive shipment of agricultural fertilizer that authorities say was stored in the port of Beirut without safety precautions for years -- despite warnings by local officials. The explosion was near the port in the Lebanese capital. Bachar Ghattas, an eyewitness, described scenes of chaos: "You can see injured people all over the streets in Beirut, glass all over the place, cars are damaged. The red-orange smoke plume was one of the first clues that ammonium nitrate was involved in the explosion in Beirut. FEM had worked with an outside trading company to facilitate the transfer of the chemical compound from Georgia to Mozambique. A cargo of 2,750 tonnes of the substance (equivalent to around 1.1 kilotons of TNT) had been stored in a warehouse without proper safety measures for the previous six years, after having been confiscated by the Lebanese authorities from the abandoned ship Lebanon’s Prime Minister … "People are asking the emergency department about their loved ones, and it is difficult to search at night because there is no electricity," Health Minister Hamad Hassan. On Aug. 4, a devastating explosion struck the area around a port in Beirut. "This is not common. An injured man sits next to a restaurant in the Mar Mikhael neighborhood on Wednesday. That's when the ship's owner told the Russian and Ukrainian sailors that he had run out of money and they would have to pick up additional cargo to cover the travel costs -- which led them on a detour to Beirut. How 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate ended up in Beirut, Tensions high in Dover as stranded drivers seen shouting at police, We asked people around the world to reflect on 2020. "In our memos 19320/2014 dated 5/12/2014 and 5/6/2015 [...] we requested that your honor order the responsible Port Authorities to re-export Ammonium Nitrate that was taken off the Rhosus ship and placed in Customs hangar number 12 in Beirut port," Daher wrote in 2017. A woman walks with her belongings on Wednesday. What has Denmark done right in its Covid-19 responses? A statue representing the Lebanese expatriate is seen Wednesday in front of a building that was damaged by the explosion. The Russian-owned ship, named … The devastating explosion in Beirut that killed at least 100 people and wounded thousands hit the Lebanese capital with the force of a 3.5-magnitude earthquake. ", The source added, "it's a dangerous material, it's a very powerful oxidizer and is used for producing explosives. It was transported on the Russian ship, Rhosus, which docked in Beirut, where the chemical compound had been in storage for more than six years. "That quantity -- it's far less than what we use in a month of consumption," the source said. Lebanese Security source: The massive blast in Beirut was caused by the explosion of tons of Ammonium nitrate after a fire nearby spread towards the warehouse where the Ammonium nitrate … Rescue crews search a street for survivors on Tuesday night. People run for cover following the explosion. "We can confirm that yes, we did order it," a spokesperson for FEM told CNN. Once in Beirut, the MV Rhosus was detained by local port authorities due to "gross violations in operating a vessel," unpaid fees to the port, and complaints filed by the Russian and Ukrainian crew , according to the Seafarers' Union of Russia (affiliated with the International Transport Workers' Federation, or ITF), which represented the Russian sailors, told CNN. Images from Beirut reveal a distinct reddish colour to the … Asked in a telephone interview if there are any early findings in the investigations related to the cause of the explosion, she said, "There are no preliminary results or clarification.". "This is a catastrophic regulatory failure because regulations on the storage of ammonium nitrate are typically very clear. Beirut explosion linked to Russian ship storing ammonium nitrate left in port, called 'floating bomb' Officials warned the ship was 'a floating bomb.' "Both of these things will be questioned in the investigation into the Beirut explosion, because they had such a large amount of ammonium nitrate, which may not have been stored appropriately, and in an area where there is a large number of people," he added. Lebanese soldiers stand guard in front of destroyed ships Thursday. But it's not like gunpowder that you just light a match and it will immediately go off like pyrotechnics. We knew that they were dangerous materials, but not to that extent. A wounded person is carried after the blast. ", Drone footage shows the scale of destruction in Beirut. The resulting fire caused an explosion and additional fires that damaged more than 1,000 buildings and killed nearly 400 people, according to the website of the Texas Historical Association. If the ammonium nitrate in Beirut was stored in wooden or cardboard containers, it would have made the substance incredibly flammable, says Jimmie Oxley, a chemist at the University of … Firefighters use a water hose on flaming debris. Senegalese officials say they have asked for 2,700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate – the chemical which caused a huge explosion in Beirut – to be removed from Dakar. A man whose legs were injured because of the explosion looks at a destroyed house on Friday. Injured people sit on a street after the blast. Maintenance was conducted on the warehouse door just hours before the blast on Tuesday, he added. Nigerian government: Military has rescued all kidnapped schoolboys, How Chinese government tries to silence overseas Uyghurs, Boko Haram claims responsibility for kidnapping, prompting fear of increasing influence, See inside Korean CCTV unit contact tracing citizens, See total solar eclipse in parts of South America. The ammonium nitrate never made it to Mozambique, the source said, and instead was kept in a container at Beirut's port for over six years before exploding earlier this week. Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh on Thursday distanced his ally Hizbullah from the ammonium nitrate shipment that exploded at Beirut port and instead pointed the finger at … On Wednesday, Lebanese Information Minister Manal Abdel Samad Najd said there are papers and documents dating back to 2014 proving the existence of an exchange of information about the "material" confiscated by Lebanese authorities. Lebanese Red Cross officers carry an injured woman on Tuesday night. A woman walks over rubble in her apartment on Wednesday. A helicopter fights a fire Tuesday at the scene of the explosion. Beirut was declared a "disaster city" by authorities on Wednesday. "At the time, on board of the dry cargo ship there were particularly dangerous goods -- ammonium nitrate, which the port authorities of Beirut did not allow to unload or transfer to another ship," it added. The shipment never made it to Mozambique, the source said. This aerial photo, taken Wednesday, shows the aftermath of the explosion. It's a lot more stable.". The quantity -- 2750 metric tons, according to lawyers representing the ship's crew -- was also small compared with other commercial shipments of ammonium nitrate, the FEM spokesperson said. This satellite image, obtained by CNN from Planet Labs Inc., shows a massive crater at the site of Tuesday's explosion. A damaged hospital room is seen on Wednesday. Senegalese officials … "It's absolutely massive and devastating to see all of that (the events in Beirut). "On Wednesday there was some news saying that the cargo was originally intended to go to Mozambique. Relatives of people who are missing hold hands Thursday as they wait outside the port to receive information from rescue teams. Christelle Helou hugs the coffin of her cousin Nicole in Sarba, Lebanon, on Thursday. Tragically, this seems to have been the case in Beirut, writes Gabriel da Silva. CNN agreed not to publish the spokesperson's name due to the employee's privacy concerns amid a sensitive international story. The explosion erupted in the Beirut’s port area late afternoon on Tuesday, with videos showing a fire burning in a building in the area before an enormous blast. People walk near the scene of the explosion. A man leaves his damaged house on Thursday. A man reacts at the scene soon after the explosion. The spokesperson has been with the company since 2008 and said there had been no similar lost shipments of ammonium nitrate since then. The September 2013 shipment of ammonium nitrate began in Georgia, where the chemical compound was produced. Lebanese soldiers watch as a helicopter fights a fire at the scene of the explosion. A wounded man is helped as he walks through debris following the explosion. Hundreds of people have been reported missing. At points, he even offered to sell the dangerous cargo to the Lebanese army, according to the court documents, but to no avail. Adding, "this is a very serious material and you need to transport it with very strict standards of transportation. So, when that happened, we knew it was probably for us," the spokesperson said. Beirut explosion: How ammonium nitrate caused deadly blast in Lebanon An explosion at a warehouse in the Port of Beirut on Tuesday killed more than 100 people and left more than 4,000 … The … Lebanese authorities have not named the MV Rhosus as the source of, Lebanon's general security chief also said a. Emergency wards have been inundated. For an industrial ammonium nitrate disaster to occur, a lot needs to go wrong. Large crowds, chanting "revolution, revolution,". This image was obtained from a video on social media. The Moldovan-flagged ship stopped in Greece to refuel. Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab said 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate that had been stored for years in a Beirut portside warehouse had blown up, killing dozens of people and … The idea that such a quantity would have been left unattended for six years beggars belief and was an accident waiting to happen.". Following the destruction caused by ammonium nitrate exploding at Beirut's port, there are concerns globally about its storage. (AFP) Previous disasters linked to the chemical have led to improved regulations for its safe storage, Associate Professor Stewart Walker, from the school of Forensic, Environmental and Analytical Chemistry at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, told CNN said; such rules mean it tends to be kept away from population centers. Documents newly reviewed by CNN reveal that a shipment of 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate arrived in Beirut on a Russian-owned vessel in 2013. A man sits inside a damaged home in Beirut, Lebanon, on Friday. the substance that ultimately exploded in Beirut, France has sent an aid package to Lebanon, Live updates: Beirut explosion rocks Lebanon's capital city, Ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse linked to catastrophic Beirut explosion. A woman, whose son is said to be missing after Tuesday's explosion, waits outside Beirut's port on Thursday to receive information from rescue teams. The sailors had been on the ship for 11 months with few supplies, according to Prokoshev. "Usually, when you place an order for whatever it is that you're buying, it's not common that you don't get the goods. But Lebanon's Interior Minister said the blast was a store of about 2,750 tonnes of seized ammonium nitrate blowing up. People gather by damaged buildings after the blast. And it's with great sorrow that we see that," they added. Ammonium nitrate has been implicated in deadly industrial explosions in the past, and is known to require careful handling. She told Jordan's state-owned channel Al Mamlaka that the exchange is being considered in relation to the potential cause of the deadly Beirut blast. Fábrica de Explosivos Moçambique (FEM), a Mozambican explosives manufacturing company, told CNN that they were the ones who originally ordered the ammonium nitrate that was left at Beirut's port for nearly seven years. Damage is seen inside an apartment on Wednesday. ABUJA, Nigeria—The ammonium nitrate that exploded last week in Beirut… ", Kraytem too said that the issue of removing the explosive material had been brought up by State Security and Customs -- but that the issue had not been "resolved.". This is a vessel, it's not like one thing that was lost in the mail, it's a big quantity.". Lebanese soldiers search for survivors on Wednesday. "And unfortunately, we see our name attached, even though we have absolutely no part in it. (CNN)The original buyers of the ammonium nitrate that was left at Beirut's port have told CNN that it had been bought for use in mining. An ammonium nitrate explosion produces massive amounts of nitrogen oxides. All the Lebanese political factions maintain a presence at the port … But public court documents CNN obtained through the prominent Lebanese human rights activist, Wadih Al-Asmar, reveal that Daher and his predecessor, Merhi, turned to Beirut's courts to help dispose of the dangerous goods multiple times from 2014 onwards. Once the ammonium nitrate reached Warehouse 12, it became snarled in the murky limbo of Beirut's notoriously corrupt port. The vessel was owned by a company called Teto Shipping which members of the crew said was owned by Igor Grechushkin, a Khabarovsk businessman who resided in Cyprus. This August 5, 2020 file photo, is the scene of an explosion that hit the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon. The spokesperson revealed that the Mozambican company only learnt of their involvement in the story from news reports on Wednesday that talked of a destination in Mozambique. A person hugs French President Emmanuel Macron during his visit to the Gemmayzeh neighborhood in Beirut on Thursday. Maritime traffic services and documents obtained by CNN describe a shipment of 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate that was detained in Beirut in 2013. Firefighters work at the scene on Tuesday. Once a reaction is sparked, ammonium nitrate explodes violently. Eventually we had to sell the fuel and use the money to hire a lawyer because there was not help, the owner did not even provide us with food or water," Prokoshev said in a radio interview with Echo Moscow on Wednesday. A Lebanese army helicopter flies over Beirut on Wednesday. ", On Wednesday, the Director General of Beirut Port Hassan Kraytem told local television channel OTV: "We stored the material in warehouse number 12 at Beirut port in accordance with a court order. It is like an apocalypse.". Ammonium nitrate, a white chemical substance that often comes in the form of small crystal balls and is used as fertilizer as well as for bomb making, was inappropriately stored in a … Smoke rises after the blast. A building's facade is shattered after Tuesday's explosion. People walk Wednesday along a road littered with debris and abandoned vehicles. Perhaps the closest comparison to Beirut's explosion, in terms of scale, is a blast in Texas City in 1947, which was caused by 2,300 US tons (about 2,087 metric tons) of ammonium nitrate. A Russian rescue worker and dog search the Beirut port on Friday. Books are seen in the blast debris on Friday. The ship, named the MV … Ammonium nitrate - identified as the cause of the deadly explosion in Beirut - is an odourless crystalline substance used as a fertilizer that has been behind many industrial explosions … "Customs and State Security sent letters [to the authorities] asking to remove or re-export the explosive materials six years ago, and we have been waiting since then for this issue to be resolved, but to no avail," Kraytem said. While the company was aware that the vessel had been detained in Beirut and later impounded by Lebanese officials, the spokesperson insisted "that was absolutely out of our control. FEM told CNN this was the only shipment of the chemical ordered by the Mozambican firm that never arrived. How judges responded to warnings about ammonium nitrate stored at the Beirut port, Doctored videos are already faking the cause of Beirut's explosion, Couple standing less than 600 meters from blast site survives Beirut explosion. The ammonium nitrate never made it to Mozambique, the source said, and instead was kept in a container at Beirut's port for over six years before exploding earlier this week. A woman and her sister-in-law show a photo of a missing man on Friday. ", The spokesperson said that colleagues at the company were very "surprised" to learn how long the chemical had been stored at the port as "that's not a material that you want to have stored without having any use for it." Adding, "there are some countries in the world with an annual consumption of over 1 million tons. Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) is a red, bad-smelling gas . It was carrying 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate, an industrial chemical commonly used around the world as a fertilizer -- and in explosives for mining. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network. 2020 Beirut explosion: On August 4, a major fire broke out in a Port of Beirut warehouse and spread to 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate which had been impounded and stored for six years after it was … Debris litters the floor of the Lebanese Parliament on Wednesday. 4 months ago. It was then kept in that hangar for six years, despite repeated warnings from the Director of Lebanese Customs, Badri Daher, of the "extreme danger" that the cargo posed. They added that FEM then purchased another order of ammonium nitrate to replace the lost one and that one was delivered. Volunteers conduct research at the explosion site on Saturday. What about the origins of the 2,750 tons of chemical in Beirut? "The Port Authority should not have allowed the ship to offload the chemicals into the port," he said. The Beirut neighborhood of Mar Mikhael sits in ruins. According to emails exchanged by Prokoshev and a Beirut-based lawyer Charbel Dagher, who represented the crew in Lebanon, the ammonium nitrate was unloaded in Beirut's port by November 2014 and stored in a hangar. A woman looks out of the collapsed facade of a Beirut apartment on Wednesday. A man carries his belongings as he leaves his destroyed house on Thursday. The order of ammonium nitrate was intended for manufacturing explosives for mining companies in Mozambique, the spokesperson said. In the Beirut incident, experts suggest fireworks were involved. "So, we never paid for it, we never received it.". Lebanon PM Diab says 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate at site of Beirut blasts. The spokesperson said they had planned to pay "a significant amount" for the chemical in the first order but the payment was never made. By Mary Ilyushina, Katie Polglase and Ali Younes, CNN. In 2014, Mikhail Voytenko, who runs an online publication tracking maritime activity, described the ship as a "floating bomb.". The ammonium nitrate arrived in Beirut in the fall of 2013 on a Russian-owned cargo ship, the Rhosus, the ship's then-captain, … "According to our information, the Russian crew was later repatriated to their homeland... the salaries were not paid," the union told CNN. The explosive force occurs when solid ammonium nitrate … "Due to the extreme danger posed by this stored items in unsuitable climate conditions, we reiterate our request to the Port Authorities to re-export the goods immediately to maintain the safety of the port and those working in it," Daher's predecessor, Chafic Merhi, wrote in a 2016 letter addressed to a judge involved in the case. Ammonium nitrate stored at site of massive Beirut explosion: Officials More than 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate was stored in the Beirut warehouse that was the scene of Tuesday's deadly … Red smoke rises after the explosion, which could be felt for miles. On 4 August 2020, a large amount of ammonium nitrate stored at the port of the city of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, exploded, causing at least 204 deaths, 6,500 injuries, and US$15 billion in property damage, and leaving an estimated 300,000 people homeless. CNN's Kareem Khadder, Schams Elwazer, Rob Picheta and Laura Smith-Spark contributed to this story. Ammonium nitrate, which Lebanese authorities have said caused the devastating Beirut blast, is an odourless crystalline substance commonly used as a fertilizer that has been the cause of … "We were asked to fix a door of the warehouse by State Security and we did that at noon, but what occurred in the afternoon I have no idea," he said. A cloud of orange smoke is seen rising above Beirut, Aug. 4, 2020. Wounded people wait to received help outside a hospital. People remove debris from a house on Friday. But several months after the ammonium nitrate left Georgia, the spokesperson said the trading company told FEM it would not be arriving: "We were just informed by that trading company: there's a problem with the vessel, your order is not going to be delivered," the spokesperson said. "Poorly stored ammonium nitrate is notorious for explosions -- for example in Oppau, Germany; in Galveston Bay, Texas; and more recently at West in Waco, Texas; and Tianjin in China," Andrea Sella, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at University College London, told the Science Media Centre. In 2013, the MV Rhosus set off from Batumi, Georgia, destined for Mozambique, according to the vessel's path and the account of its captain Boris Prokoshev. 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