Court condemns British company for devastating explosion in Beirut in 2020
Britain's High Court has ruled that a London-based company that supplied the explosive ammonium nitrate to the port of Beirut is liable to victims of a devastating 2020 explosion. The Lebanese Bar Association in Beirut said on Thursday that the Supreme Court had ruled that London-registered chemicals trading company Savaro Ltd. must now pay compensation.
The massive explosion in the port of Beirut on August 4, 2020 killed more than 200 people, injured over 6,000 and damaged large parts of the port city. Friends and families of the victims of the blast saw the legal development as a rare step towards justice and against the political intervention that has prevented the investigating magistrate from leading an inquiry in Lebanon for over two years.
The London court ruling is an unusual legal victory for the victims' families, some of whom have chosen to sue abroad. The Beirut Bar Association, along with three family members of the victims, filed a lawsuit against the British law firm more than a year ago. The ruling from the High Court of Justice in London means the case will now move to the next phase, which will determine the firm's compensation to the families, Camille Abousleiman, one of the lawyers involved in the case, told the media.
The head of the Bar, Nader Kaspar, regarded the verdict as a "great achievement" which paved the way to continue the search for justice and truth about the causes of the devastating explosion in the port of Beirut. "It is the first time that a reputable court has actually rendered a verdict on this matter," said Abu Suleiman, a former Lebanese labor minister. The verdict "will certainly open the door to potential justice in foreign courts."
Mariana Fudooulian, whose sister Gaia died in the blast, called the verdict a "very important step". "Through this verdict, we can try to access more important details," Foudouian told the media. "That gives us some hope." Court documents showed that in 2013 Savaro had chartered a huge cargo of ammonium nitrate that ended up ending up in the Beirut port area. Documents show staff were aware of the highly flammable chemical substance that had been docked in the port for years, but took no decisive action to remove it.
The lawsuit against Savaro was filed in August 2021. It remains unclear who owns Savaro. Accountability Now, a Swiss organization, said some families of victims of the Beirut blast have filed a lawsuit in Texas against US-Norwegian geophysical services group TGS. The TGS company owns a company that allegedly sub-chartered the vessel carrying the ammonium nitrate in 2012. Accountability Now said it hoped the lawsuit would help expose communications between TGS and other parties involved in the Beirut blast.
