Lebanese Lawyers sue UK-registered company over Beirut blast
Lebanese Lawyers have filed a lawsuit against a UK-registered company over its alleged role in last year’s Beirut explosion which killed 200 people.
The case was filed against Savaro Ltd, a chemical company, at the London High Court. The action was led by the Beirut Bar Association, a survivor of the blast and the families of two people who were killed among others.
Last August, an explosion ripped a hole in the Beirut community claiming 218 lives, wounding thousands and causing $4.6bn (£3.35bn) worth of damage after a shipment of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser exploded in Lebanon while en route to Mozambique.
In 2013, the ship carrying the cargo was forced to dock in Beirut after experiencing technical problems and the fertiliser was offloaded into a port warehouse.
The legal challenge claims that the fertiliser was supplied by Savaro. In a statement the Beirut Bar Association said it was seeking indemnification for: “the failure to take any actions to secure or properly dispose of Ammonium Nitrate, causing death, injury, loss, and damage to the Claimants.”
The President of the Beirut Bar Association, Melhem Khalaf, said: “Every person or entity who is directly or indirectly responsible for any part of the devastation which occurred on 4 August 2020 should and will be brought to justice.”
Richard Slade, Savaro’s lawyer, claims that the company “has never traded” the items referred to in the claim.