Lebanon: Fire breaks out in Zahrani Oil Installation storage tank; no casualties reported

Amid a serious power crisis, a huge fire broke out in an oil storage tank at one of Lebanon’s main fuel facilities in the country’s south on Monday. According to the reports by the State-run National News Agency, the major fire incident was reported from Zahrani Oil Installation which is about 50 kilometres south of Beirut.

The local media broadcasted huge orange flames coming out of the oil tanker resulting in a thick black column of smoke accumulating over the sky. State-run National News Agency reported that it was not immediately clear what caused the fire that was still raging after two hours since it broke out. 

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Meanwhile, firefighters rushed to the scene to douse the flames. Local media said that there were no immediate reports of casualties from the incident site but added the official statement would likely come by evening. To prevent any further damage, Lebanese troops took control of the main highway linking Beirut with southern Lebanon that passes through Zahrani.
It is worth mentioning that the Zahrani Oil Installation is close to one of Lebanon's main power stations. The power stations stopped functioning two days ago due to a fuel shortage, resulting in a serious power crisis across the country. At some places, electricity cuts lasted up to 22 hours a day.

"It was believed there were 300,000 litres of gasoline in the tanker. The current work is focused on extinguishing the fire and cooling down a nearby tanker, to keep it from igniting," head of the civil defence, Raymound Khattar was quoted as saying by local MTV station.

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Beirut port explosion

Notably, last year, Beirut witnessed one of the worst explosions at its port, where a massive blast killed at least 215 people and wounded thousands of people.

After the deadly blast, investigators concluded that the main reason for the blast was ammonium nitrate. They revealed hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive material used in fertilizers, had been improperly stored for years, resulting in the explosion.

Earlier this year, a German company found an explosive nuclear stockpile stored at the facility in Zahrani. Eight small containers that weigh less than two kilograms containing depleted uranium salts were removed shortly afterwards.

(With inputs from AP, Image: AP)