London court orders British firm to pay $1m compensation in Beirut port explosion case 

A court in the UK has ordered a British firm to pay $1m in compensation to some of the families impacted by the 2020 explosion which ripped apart the port of Beirut. 

London-registered chemical trading firm Savaro was responsible for delivering the ammonia nitrate that exploded in the port three years ago, killing more than 200 people and injuring more than 6,000 others. 

Savaro chartered the shipment of the ammonium nitrate in 2013 that ended up in Beirut.

The Beirut Bar Association, along with four victims’ families, filed a lawsuit against Savaro in August 2021 after UK authorities blocked the firm’s attempts to dissolve the company. Families of the victims are not optimistic about actually receiving any compensation as the identity of the backers of secrertive Savaro has not been discovered.

Efforts to pursue a judicial inquiry on home soil have stalled repeatedly. A $250m lawsuit was filed in Texas 11 months ago. 

Primary investigations into the blast revealed that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored at a decaying warehouse in the port since 2013 caused the explosions, which caused $15bn in property damage, and left an estimated 300,000 others homeless. The deadly explosions were so massive that they were heard in Cyprus, some 240 km away. The blasts have been documented as the most powerful accidental artificial non-nuclear explosions in history.