CAPE TOWN, August 17 (ANA) - After the massive explosion at the Port of Beirut in Lebanon on August 4, which claimed more than 200 lives and injured more than 6 000 people, the Egyptian government has opted to remove all hazardous materials from its ports.
According to online news publication Egypt Independent, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said on Sunday that they had removed large quantities of stagnant, neglected and dangerous materials from the ports.
The minister was speaking during a discussion on a new customs law in a plenary session of the House of Representatives on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation has announced the formation of a supreme committee to inspect warehouses and cargo areas at Egyptian airports and to move dangerous materials away from them, writes news outlet Al-Monitor.
The review of the state of hazardous materials at the country’s ports was undertaken on the instruction of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
The minister said the new customs law would establish a control system to track whatever material arrived from abroad, Egypt Independent reports. The system will track where the material originated and will respond to the sending port within 48 hours.
It has emerged that the explosion at the Beirut port was caused when a neglected stockpile of 2 750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse caught fire. Investigations continue.
Anadolu News Agency reports that the explosion measured 3.5 on the Richter scale and shattered buildings kilometres away.
- African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher