Explosive material found in Beirut port was stored for 15 years, says President Aoun

Several tonnes of highly explosive material found at Beirut’s port, just weeks after the same chemical was blamed for causing a massive detonation there, had been in storage for 15 years, the Lebanese president said on Friday.

The army said on Sept. 2 it had discovered a stockpile close to the port of 4.35 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, the highly explosive chemical blamed for the huge Aug. 4 blast that killed about 190 people and ruined a swathe of Beirut.

The Aug. 4 blast was caused by a far larger quantity of the chemical, about 2,750 tonnes, which officials said had been stored for about six years at the port in unsafe conditions.