Four years after a fiery chemical blast on Beirut’s waterfront killed more than 200 people and left thousands injured, no one has been held responsible for the deadly tragedy.
The Aug. 4, 2020, explosion reduced huge swaths of Lebanon’s capital to rubble and caused billions of dollars in damage, but corruption and mismanagement have stalled an investigation into the blast — with no one yet held accountable for the disaster.
“Four years later and there is not a single detainee,” Helen Ata, who lost her brother in the explosion, told the Associated Press. “There is a crime and there are accused. But there are no criminals.”
More than a dozen political, security and port officials have been charged with “criminal incompetence” during the probe under Judge Tarek Bitar, the second investigator assigned to the case.
But the politically connected officials have frequently refused to show up for questioning, throwing a wrench into the investigation of the explosion that shocked the world for its sheer force.
The fireball was sparked by tons of ammonium nitrate stashed in a warehouse on the Beirut waterfront that caught fire — igniting the chemical and unleashing the monster blast.
At least 218 people were killed and more than 6,000 injured, with large portions of the city leveled.
Horrifying video footage captured a mushroom cloud erupting from the warehouse, shockwaves from the blast then toppling buildings and shattering windows miles away from the epicenter.
Despite his best efforts, Bitar has hit repeated road blocks in his investigation into the blast.
Last year, former chief prosecutor Ghassan Oweidat had 17 detainees in the case released pending the outcome of the investigation — a move Bitar has dubbed illegal.
Earlier this year two former ministers who were sought on arrest warrants had the warrants suspended in a move Amnesty International called “another nail in the coffin of justice.”
Likewise, Lebanese officials have consistently refused to cooperate with the probe.
“They’re trying to make us forget,” Mirna Habboush, who lost sight in her right eye from the blast, told the AP. “They’re trying to kill us a second time. In a country like this, with this establishment and with these people in power, we unfortunately won’t get anywhere.”
With Post wires
