Victims' Families Of Beirut’s Port Blast File $250M Lawsuit

Victims' Families Of Beirut’s Port Blast File $250M Lawsuit

Introduction

According to a Swiss organization, families of some of the victims of Beirut's catastrophic port bomb have sued an American-Norwegian company for $250 million.

The corporation is thought to have been involved in transporting the explosive material to the port. The case was filed on Monday, according to Accountability Now, whose goal is to help Lebanese civil society's efforts to remove the leaders' impunity. According to the organization, there are nine claimants who are either Americans or relatives of Americans.

The action is being taken at a time when a domestic investigation in Lebanon has been halted since December as a result of legal objections made by those seeking interrogation against the investigating judge.

On August 4, 2020, an explosion caused by hundreds of tonnes of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive substance used in fertilizers and incorrectly kept in the port for years, killed close to 220 people, injured over 6,000 more, and caused billions of dollars in damage.

The Lebanese investigation reveals that the majority of government officials were aware of the hazardous goods kept at the port. The explosion exacerbated the nation's economic collapse, which had already started a year earlier and was caused by years of corruption and poor management.

According to Accountability Now, the $250 million Texas lawsuit targets U.S.-Norwegian geophysical services giant TGS, which owns the British company Spectrum Geo, and alleges that it engaged in a number of dubious but extremely lucrative contracts with the Ministry of Energy in Lebanon.

In 2012, Spectrum hired the Moldavian-flagged ship Rhosus to travel to Beirut with 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate on board, the statement continued.

According to a lawyer for Accountability Now who helped the plaintiffs, this action will compel TGS to provide Spectrum's conversations with multiple third parties that are all pertinent to the investigations in Lebanon. TGS did not immediately respond to a message left for comment on its website on Wednesday.

The attorney said that because of obstruction, the domestic investigation is presently stymied. The extra evidence we may obtain via this case will enable the judiciaries in Lebanon and elsewhere to identify specific roles and, as a result, hold the offenders accountable.

In a step toward obtaining justice for the #beirutblast, a woman whose son was the youngest victim of the explosion that destroyed the port and damaged entire neighborhoods in Beirut tweeted that a lawsuit has been filed in the US against the company that chartered the ship that brought the material to Beirut. The woman is an Australian citizen and has joined this case on behalf of her son, who was a U.S. citizen.

Four former top government officials have been accused of purposeful murder and carelessness that caused the port explosion that killed dozens of people, according to the Lebanese judge who is overseeing the inquiry into the incident in Beirut. The judge was forced to put his work on hold for more than seven months after at least two former Cabinet members launched legal challenges against him.

Amid requests by various parties, including the potent Hezbollah, to have the judge removed over accusations of prejudice, the number of officials has declined to be questioned. It's partially due to the victims' lack of prospects. They don't get any attention and are out of options in Lebanon. The plaintiffs' attorney for Accountability Now said that the judiciary is restrained and noted that the complaint is on behalf of all blast victims