British court orders company to pay damages to victims of 2020 Beirut port explosion

(Patria) - A British court has ordered a London-based company that supplied the ammonium nitrate that exploded in 2020 at the Beirut port to pay compensation to some families of the victims, the Beirut Bar Association said, AP reported.

The High Court of Justice ruling on Monday came four months after the court ruled that the London-based chemical trading company Savaro Ltd. was liable to the victims for the devastating explosion.

Hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive material used in fertilizers that had been improperly stored at the port for years, exploded on August 4, 2020, killing nearly 220 people, injuring over 6,000 others, and causing billions of dollars in damage to the city. Savaro is suspected of having supplied the shipment of ammonium nitrate in 2013 that ended up in Beirut. Documents in Lebanon show that several high-ranking political, judicial, and security officials were aware of the chemicals in the port for years but took no decisive action to dispose of them.

The case in London was brought by the Beirut Bar Association because Savaro Ltd. is based there. According to the prosecution office of the Beirut Bar Association, the court ordered the payment of 100,000 British pounds ($125,900) for each of the three plaintiffs whose family members were killed in the explosion, for emotional distress caused by their deaths. The court also ordered the payment of more than 500,000 British pounds to an injured plaintiff as compensation for emotional and physical harm and to cover medical expenses. The ruling in London is an unusual legal success for the families of the victims, who have been advocating for an unhindered national investigation. Some have opted to file lawsuits abroad.

The Beirut Bar Association, together with four families of victims, filed a lawsuit against Savaro Ltd. in August 2021 after British authorities blocked the company's attempts to dissolve. It remains unclear who owns Savaro. The listed owners are agents of the corporate services company, investigative journalists from Lebanon and around the world report. The High Court of Justice ordered the company in June 2022 to disclose its true owners, but it did not do so.