Egypt supporting South Sudan’s development, minister says

Egypt supporting South Sudan’s development, minister says

BEIRUT: One of history’s biggest non-nuclear explosions rocked Beirut on August 4, 2020, destroying swathes of the Lebanese capital, killing more than 220 people and injuring at least 6,500.

Three years on, the probe into the traumatic disaster caused by a huge pile of poorly-stored fertilizer remains bogged down in legal and political wrangling, to the dismay of victims’ families.

The massive explosion, heard as far away as Cyprus, destroyed much of Beirut port and entire districts of the city in scenes that shook the country and the world.

The blast left a 43-meter (141 foot) deep crater and registered as the equivalent of a magnitude 3.3 earthquake.

The disaster spread fear and chaos, with mountains of broken glass littering roads and bloodied survivors flooding overwhelmed hospitals.

The blast was caused by a fire in a warehouse where a vast stockpile of the industrial chemical ammonium nitrate had been haphazardly stored for years.

The tragedy struck amid a deep economic crisis, almost a year after mass demonstrations erupted against a ruling class deemed inept and corrupt as living conditions worsen.

Here’s a timeline of events following the Beirut blast:

On August 10, 2020, Prime Minister Hassan Diab resigns under a barrage of pressure over the explosion.

In December 2020,