Grain silos believed to have prevented the massive blast at Beirut's port in 2020 from causing far more damage than it did, are to be torn down, Information Minister Ziad Makari announced on Thursday.
The decision followed a report by Lebanon's Khateeb and Alami Engineering Company, which warned that the silos would collapse in a few months, Makari added in televised remarks following a government meeting.
He said that renovating the silos would be very costly, so the decision had been made to remove them altogether instead.
On August 4, 2020, a fire at the Beirut port triggered the explosion of tons of improperly stored ammonium nitrate, killing over 200 people and injuring 6,000 more. The blast destroyed large parts of Beirut and displaced some 300,000 more people from their homes.
Many experts believed that the silos absorbed much of the blast's impact and spared the city even worse damage.
Lebanese authorities have yet to give a clear explanation of how the ammonium nitrate arrived at the port, or who brought the substance into the country.
Makari said on Thursday that the state-run Council for Development and Reconstruction would supervise the demolition of the 48-meter-high silos that used to store upwards of 100,000 tons of grain.
The families of victims and activists across the country have been calling on the government to preserve the silos as a reminder of Lebanon's worst peacetime tragedy until the probe is finished.
The government on Thursday tasked the ministries of culture and interior with setting up a memorial for the victims of the blast.
