BEIRUT: Lebanese judge Tarek Bitar headed to Bulgaria on Wednesday to question a shipowner wanted in connection with a catastrophic 2020 Beirut port blast, a judicial official told AFP.
The long-awaited questioning comes after a court this month refused Lebanon’s request to extradite Igor Grechushkin, a 48-year-old Russian-Cypriot who was arrested in September at Sofia airport.
Authorities in Lebanon say the August 4, 2020 explosion was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer had been stored haphazardly for years, despite repeated warnings to senior officials.
Beirut authorities have identified Grechushkin as the owner of the Rhosus, the ship that brought the ammonium nitrate into the port.
The blast was one of the world’s largest non-nuclear explosions, destroying swathes of the Lebanese capital, killing more than 220 people and injuring more than 6,500.
