At least 20 dead, dozens injured in explosion of fuel depot in Lebanon

At least twenty people died and dozens were injured this Sunday in northern Lebanon, when a deposit exploded where the fuel was stored illegally.

At first, the cause of the explosion, which occurred near the Syrian border, was not clear. We suspect that fuel smuggling took months In progress.

The Lebanese Red Cross said that a tanker had exploded and that its staff had recovered 20 bodies from the scene in the border town of Tleil. The agency said it evacuated 79 people injured or burned by the blast.

Hours later, Red Cross members continued to search the area for casualties as Lebanese soldiers cordoned off the scene.

The explosion occurred after the army confiscated a warehouse in Tleil where 60,000 liters of petrol were stored and gave the order to distribute fuel to residents of the area.

Neighbors had gathered to receive the scarce resource, available only on the black market at exorbitant prices, and sometimes not even.

Video recorded late at night and circulating on the internet showed people gathering at the scene before the explosion to fill drums with fuel.

Hospitals in northern Lebanon were asking for blood donations of all kinds. Health Minister Hamad Hassan called on all hospitals in the north of the country and the capital, Beirut, to take in those injured from the blast, noting that the government would pay for medical care for the victims.

Lebanon is suffering severe fuel shortage which has been attributed to smuggling, speculation and the inability of a cash-strapped government to guarantee deliveries of imported fuel.

The fuel crisis worsened considerably this week after the central bank decided to withdraw fuel subsidies, a move that risks pushing up the prices of almost all commodities in an already ravaged country. by poverty and hyperinflation.

The explosion this Sunday was the deadliest in the country as at least 214 people died in one shot on August 4, 2020 in the port of Beirut which destroyed parts of the capital.

With information from the PA