Groups ask UN to investigate Beirut’s massive 2020 blast

By BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — A group of Lebanese and international organizations have called on members of the U.N. Human Rights Council to send a fact-finding mission to investigate the Beirut port blast two years ago. Wednesday’s call came as the domestic investigation has been stalled since December following legal challenges by charged officials against the judge leading the investigation into the Aug. 4, 2020 blast. The explosion killed nearly 220 people and injured over 6,000. The call also came amid concerns that a large section of the port’s giant grain silos, shredded by the  explosion, might collapse days after a smaller part fell following a weekslong fire of fermented grain ignited by summer heat.