High Court in London Says UK Company is Liable for Beirut Explosion That Killed Over 200

Mystery surrounds Savaro Ltd., which chartered ship that transported fertiliser to Lebanon

This still image from a video shows smoke and dust rising from collapsing silos damaged during the massive explosion in the port of Beirut, on Aug. 23, 2022. Lujain Jo/AP Photo

The High Court in London has ruled a British company that delivered ammonium nitrate to the Lebanese port of Beirut is liable towards the victims of the huge explosion that occurred there in August 2020.

The London-registered chemicals trading firm, Savaro Limited, is believed to have chartered a shipment of ammonium nitrate in 2013 that ended up in Beirut.

On Aug. 4, 2020—after years of being stored in giant silos on the docks in the Lebanese capital—the chemicals caught fire, triggering a massive explosion that killed over 200 people and injured more than 6,000.

The disaster led to a political blame game in Lebanon, with investigating magistrate Tarek Bitar accusing the former public works minister, Youssef Fenianos, and several other former government officials of intentional killing and negligence.

But the families of the victims sought recompense from those who had originally exported the chemicals, even though Beirut was not their intended destination and the decision to store it in a heavily populated area was taken by Lebanese officials.

The Beirut Bar Association, along with the families of three victims, filed a lawsuit against Savaro Ltd. more than 12 months ago.

On Feb. 1, the High Court in London ruled that Savaro was liable, and Camille Abousleiman, one of the lawyers involved in the case, told AP the proceedings will now move to the “damages phase"—where the court determines the level of compensation for the families.

Abousleiman, a former labour minister, said: “It’s the first time there is an actual judgment on this matter in reputable courts.”

‘Open the Door for Potential Justice’

He said this decision “certainly will open the door for potential justice in courts overseas.”

Mariana Foudoulian, whose sister Gaia died in the explosion, told AP: “This is a very important step. Through this judgment, we can try to access more important details. This does give us some hope.”

Ammonium nitrate is a chemical frequently used as a commercial fertiliser, but it can become unstable if stored incorrectly or if it receives a detonation charge.

The material has been used for bomb-making in a number of terrorist attacks. One of the most infamous was the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, when Timothy McVeigh parked a rented truck packed with ammonium nitrate and fuel oil outside a federal building. When it ignited, it destroyed the building and claimed the lives of 168 people, including 19 children.

In February 2022, a fire broke out at an ammonium nitrate plant in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, resulting in wide-scale evacuations.

If stored properly, ammonium nitrate remains safe and inert, but the enormous quantity stored in Beirut somehow caught fire—possibly as a result of a spark from a welder’s torch—and caused an enormous daytime explosion, which was caught on camera and aroused speculation globally.

The 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate in the Beirut case started out its journey in the Black Sea port of Batumi in Georgia.

It was loaded onto a Russian-owned merchant ship, the Rhosus, which was chartered by Savaro Ltd. to deliver the cargo to a company in Mozambique in southern Africa that made industrial explosives.

The Rhosus stopped in Turkey and Greece, and was then due to pass through the Suez Canal before moving down the Red Sea and the east coast of Africa to its destination.

However, the Moldovan-flagged ship called into Beirut—possibly due to engine trouble—in October 2013 and, at that point, the crew went on strike over unpaid wages.

The Lebanese authorities then refused to let the ship leave—possibly due to unpaid port fees. In 2014, its cargo was unloaded.

The ammonium nitrate was then kept in the dockside silos for six years, and appears to have been largely forgotten about by the Lebanese authorities.

After the explosion, Lebanon’s public works minister, Michel Najjar, told al-Jazeera that he had only learned of the presence of the ammonium nitrate at the port 11 days before it blew up.

Who Owns Savaro?

The civil suit against Savaro Limited—which was incorporated in London in 2006—was filed in August 2021.

That same month Marina Psyllou, from Cyprus, resigned as a director of Savaro. The company appointed a new director, Ukrainian lawyer Volodymyr Hliadchenko, who told the Financial Times he had “acquired the company’s corporate ownership.”

According to Companies House, an attempt was made to “strike off” the company, effectively dissolving it. That move was blocked, however. It remains unclear if Hliadchenko—who has an address in Kyiv—is still the owner.

In June 2022, the High Court ordered the company to reveal its real owners.

Savaro Limited did not reply to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.

AP contributed to this report.