Beirut's accidental cargo: how an unscheduled port visit led to disaster

By Maria Vasilyeva

 

Boris Prokoshev (R), captain of cargo vessel Rhosus, and boatswain Boris Musinchak pose next to a freight hold loaded with ammonium nitrate in the port of Beirut, Lebanon, in a summer 2014 photograph. Picture taken in summer 2014. REUTERS/Personal archives of Boris Musinchak

 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The chemicals that went up in flames in Beirut's deadliest peace-time explosion arrived in the Lebanese capital seven years ago on a leaky Russian-leased cargo ship that, according to its captain, should never have stopped there.

 

"They were being greedy," said Boris Prokoshev, who was captain of the Rhosus in 2013 when he says the owner told him to make an unscheduled stop in Lebanon to pick up extra cargo.

 

Prokoshev said the ship was carrying 2,750 tonnes of a highly combustible chemical from Georgia to Mozambique when the order came to divert to Beirut on its way through the Mediterranean.

 

The crew were asked to load some heavy road equipment and take it to Jordan's Port of Aqaba before resuming their journey onto Africa, where the ammonium nitrate was to be delivered to an explosives manufacturer.

 

But the ship was never to leave Beirut, having tried and failed to safely load the additional cargo before becoming embroiled in a lengthy legal dispute over port fees.

 

"It was impossible," Prokoshev, 70, told Reuters of the operation to try and load the extra cargo. "It could have ruined the whole ship and I said no," he said by 'phone from his home in the Russian resort town of Sochi on the Black Sea coast.

 

The captain and lawyers acting for some creditors accused the ship's owner of abandoning the vessel and succeeded in having it arrested. Months later, for safety reasons, the ammonium nitrate was unloaded and put in a dock warehouse.

 

On Tuesday, that stockpile caught fire and exploded not far from a built-up residential area of the city. The huge blast killed 145 people, injured 5,000, flattened buildings and made more than a quarter of a million people homeless.

 

The ship might have succeeded in leaving Beirut, had it managed to load the additional cargo.

 

The crew had stacked the equipment, including excavators and road-rollers, on top of the doors to the cargo hold which held the ammonium nitrate below, according to the ship's Ukrainian boatswain, Boris Musinchak. But the hold doors buckled.

 

"The ship was old and the cover of the hold bent," Musinchak said by 'phone. "We decided not to take risks."

 

The captain and three crew spent 11 months on the ship while the legal dispute dragged on, without wages and with only limited supplies of food. Once they left, the ammonium nitrate was unloaded.

 

"The cargo was highly explosive. That's why it was kept on board when we were there ... That ammonium nitrate had a very high concentration," Prokoshev said.

 

BOUND FOR MOZAMBIQUE

 

Prokoshev identified the ship's owner as Russian businessman Igor Grechushkin. Attempts to contact Grechushkin were unsuccessful.

 

Cypriot police questioned Grechushkin at his home in Cyprus on Thursday, a security source said. A Cyprus police spokesman said an individual, whom he did not name, had been questioned at the request of Interpol Beirut in relation to the cargo.

 

The ammonium nitrate was sold by Georgian fertiliser maker Rustavi Azot LLC, and was to be delivered to a Mozambique explosives maker, Fabrica de Explosivos.

 

A senior representative for Fabrica de Explosivos did not immediately respond when sent a request for comment on LinkedIn.

 

Levan Burdiladze, the Rustavi Azot plant director, told Reuters that his company had only operated the chemical factory for the last three years and so he could not confirm whether the ammonium nitrate was produced there.

 

He called the decision to store the material in Beirut port a "gross violation of safe storage measures, considering that ammonium nitrate loses its useful properties in six months."

 

Initial Lebanese investigations into what happened have pointed to inaction and negligence in the handling of the potentially dangerous chemical.

 

Lebanon's cabinet on Wednesday agreed to place all Beirut port officials who have overseen storage and security since 2014 under house arrest, ministerial sources said.

 

The head of Beirut port and the head of customs said that several letters were sent to the judiciary asking for the material be removed, but no action was taken.

 

Reuters could not immediately reach Lebanon's justice minister for comment. The Justice Ministry is closed for three days of national mourning.

 

According to Prokoshev, the ship had been leaking but was seaworthy when it sailed into Beirut in September 2013. However, he said Lebanese authorities paid little attention to the ammonium nitrate, which had been stacked in the hull in large sacks.

 

"I feel sorry for the people (killed or injured in the blast). But local authorities, the Lebanese, should be punished. They did not care about the cargo at all," he said.

 

The abandoned Rhosus sank where she was moored in Beirut harbour, according to a May, 2018 email from a lawyer to Prokoshev, which said it had gone down "recently".

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-08-07

 

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Great, now every terrorist organisation in the world is gonna be loading cargo ships with ammonium nìtrate. Forget the skydiving tactics, this is the new way.

Are the port authorities and anyone else in Beirut involved in handling this ammonium nitrate situation drooling idiots? (rhetorical question). This occurred over unpaid port fees?! Looks like Karma to me. I feel for the victims of this massive, brain-dead screw-up (cock-up for you UKers).

 

Mustafa: Where did we store that 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate we cnfiscated?

 

Salim: Sorry, I don't remember where we put it. Do you want me to find its location?

 

Mustafa: Oh, not to worry. It will show up some day, Allah willing.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 7, 20205 yr by MaxYakov

Does it matter how the fertiliser got there?  The story starts once the cargo is unloaded and stored dockside for seven years.  

I tend to believe that the port officials did ask for the removal and that, as usual, bureaucracy did what it often does - nothing. 

Shouldn't Capt Boris be keeping a low profile as well? Surely transporting explosive materials should be on a fixed route A to B on a fixed schedule with no diversions and mixing of cargoes.

1 hour ago, MJKT2014 said:

Shouldn't Capt Boris be keeping a low profile as well? Surely transporting explosive materials should be on a fixed route A to B on a fixed schedule with no diversions and mixing of cargoes.

I think the boat owner is the responsible party. Why always go after the guy lower in the food chain?

17 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Lebanon's cabinet on Wednesday agreed to place all Beirut port officials who have overseen storage and security since 2014 under house arrest, ministerial sources said.

 

The head of Beirut port and the head of customs said that several letters were sent to the judiciary asking for the material be removed, but no action was taken.

 

Reuters could not immediately reach Lebanon's justice minister for comment. The Justice Ministry is closed for three days of national mourning.

The Justice Ministry could not be placed under house arrest, because it is in mourning...

Hadn't the port official's been asking for years for the government to deal with the cargo and get it moved ?

 

Are they seriously trying to pin this on Boris Prokoshev ?

1 hour ago, pegman said:

I think the boat owner is the responsible party. Why always go after the guy lower in the food chain?

Russian boat owner declared bankruptcy and walked away. Lack of action to remove the material most likely due to corruption i.e. no bribes to get something done

18 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The abandoned Rhosus sank where she was moored in Beirut harbour,

      More incompetence by the Lebanese Authorities.

11 hours ago, torturedsole said:

Does it matter how the fertiliser got there?

      The whole story is as important as the ending, as it should put an end to conspiracy theories. But at the moment, it does appear from all the stories so far, the Government have a lot to answer for, and not just port authorities, except for maybe allowing the transporting ship to sink in the harbour.

Edited August 8, 20205 yr by grumpy 4680
missing word

Who run the port of Beirut in the failed state we call Lebanon ? Hezbollah

Who tried at several places on the world to store ammonimum nitrate , often used by terrorists as an easy to get expolsive? Hezbollah.

Who do not give a damn about the population they have in power, especially in case of non-shiites ? Hezbollah

Who might be interested to have a 2700+ tons of explosives at their grasp, so leave it at a very dangerous place for 6 years despite several warnings ?  Santa Claus...

Edited August 8, 20205 yr by puipuitom

11 minutes ago, grumpy 4680 said:

      The whole story is as important as the ending, as it should put an end to conspiracy theories. But at the moment, it does appear from all the stories so far, the Government have a lot to answer for, and not just port authorities, except for maybe allowing the transporting ship to sink in the harbour.

Government of Lebanon ? There is no real government, only a 5 corrupt fractions, who are ONLY and ONLY interested in their own well-being.

1 minute ago, puipuitom said:

Government of Lebanon ? There is no real government, only a 5 corrupt fractions, who are ONLY and ONLY interested in their own well-being.

Sounds like the US but they only have two factions or 3 if you count the NRA.

4 hours ago, pegman said:

I think the boat owner is the responsible party. Why always go after the guy lower in the food chain?

Agreed, but I would think they should go after the lot of them (ship owners, captain, port authorities personnel et al) so the captain blabbing off to TV interviewers seems premature.

3 hours ago, MJKT2014 said:

Agreed, but I would think they should go after the lot of them (ship owners, captain, port authorities personnel et al) so the captain blabbing off to TV interviewers seems premature.

After 6 years, with the merchandise confiscated by those, who controll the port of Beirut ? 

47 minutes ago, puipuitom said:

After 6 years, with the merchandise confiscated by those, who controll the port of Beirut ? 

You are likely correct, I think I read the captain was detained several months for it already so probably done his time already for the snafu.

Port officials likely wanted money to 'release' the ship. That explosion was a direct result of the ship owner just not having the money to stuff brown envelopes for the port authorities. Don't tell me the ship wasn't sea worthy,  Lebonon cares less if people die once they leave their waters.  Just a ruse to encourage bribes and then it became steal the cargo. YMMV

25 minutes ago, IAMHERE said:

Port officials likely wanted money to 'release' the ship. That explosion was a direct result of the ship owner just not having the money to stuff brown envelopes for the port authorities. Don't tell me the ship wasn't sea worthy,  Lebonon cares less if people die once they leave their waters.  Just a ruse to encourage bribes and then it became steal the cargo. YMMV

It was a direct result of failing to store a potentially explosive substance properly, IMHO. If a child finds a carelessly stored firearm and shoots him/herself or somebody else with it, you wouldn't blame the gun store where the firearm was purchased (or whatever was the source of the gun) would you? So, I guess MMDV.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 8, 20205 yr by MaxYakov

15 minutes ago, MaxYakov said:

It was a direct result of failing to store a potentially explosive substance properly, IMHO. If a child finds a carelessly stored firearm and shoots him/herself or somebody else with it, you wouldn't blame the gun store where the firearm was purchased (or whatever was the source of the gun) would you? So, I guess MMDV.

 

For 6 years.

On 8/7/2020 at 6:03 PM, snoop1130 said:

freight hold loaded with ammonium nitrate in the port of Beirut, Lebanon, in a summer 2014 photograph. Picture taken in summer 2014.

2020 - 2014 = 6 years

 

On 8/7/2020 at 6:03 PM, snoop1130 said:

chemicals that went up in flames in Beirut's deadliest peace-time explosion arrived in the Lebanese capital seven years ago

So is it 6 years or 7 years?  My math is usually very accurate but........... It appears it was onboard the ship for a year before unloading.