Large fire erupts in Beirut’s port area, month after massive explosion

A store of tires and oil at the Beirut port caught fire on Thursday, almost after a month when a massive explosion devastated the port and the surrounding residential area of the capital city of Beirut, according to a military source.

The military source added that the fire erupted in the duty-free zone of the port, sending a huge column of smoke in the city. It was not immediately clear what caused the fire.

However, the director-general of the Beirut port told the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation that the blaze broke out in the building of a company that imports frying oil. It then spread to rubber tires, he said.

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Television footage showed firefighters trying to douse the blaze at the port, where warehouses and concrete grain silos were shattered by the August 4 blast.

About 190 people were killed in last month’s explosion. It was considered to be one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded.

The blast was caused by a huge store of ammonium nitrate that had been kept at the port in poor condition for years.

According to a report issued on Sunday by the presidency of the council of ministers, the August 4 explosion left at least 300,000 people homeless and caused $15 billion damage.

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