Damage cost from Beirut blast tops $15 billion: President

The massive blasts, which rocked Lebanon’s capital city on August 4, has caused damages of more than $15 billion, President Michel Aoun said on Wednesday. 

“Preliminary estimates of the losses suffered following the port explosion top 15 billion dollars,” he was quoted as telling Spain’s King Felipe in a phone call, in a message on the presidency’s Twitter account.

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The blasts in Lebanon’s capital city have been blamed on tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored in Beirut’s warehouse and has been widely seen as a direct consequence of state incompetence and corruption.

On Monday, the Lebanese government resigned, including Prime Minister Hassan Diab after city-wide protests in Beirut over the government’s incompetency. 

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A Lebanese prosecutor is to question several ministers and former ministers in connection to the blast, a judicial official said on Wednesday. 

“The interrogations will begin with former public works minister Ghazi al-Aridi,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“If a shortcoming or negligence on the part of one of the questioned ministers is found, the judiciary will have to state that it does not have jurisdiction to sue them,” the official explained.