Igor Grechushkin, Russian businessman is said to have owned the Ammonium Nitrate Cargo which played a part in yesterdays, Beirut explosion.
Igor Grechushkin is reported to be still residing in Cyprus with his wife.
The businessman abandoned the cargo in September 2013 before eventually being transferred to the port where it remained for six years.
The ship called Rhosus was going under the flag of Moldova from Batumi in Georgia to Mozambique. It was detained in October 2013 by Lebanese authorities after it stopped in Beirut due to a malfunction on board.
The cargo was checked and detained after the port authorities said it was ‘lacking documents and conditions necessary for transportation.’
The crew – eight Ukrainian and two Russian men – was forced to stay on board of the vessel while the owner Grechushkin declared himself bankrupt and ‘abandoned the ship’.
Lebanon has placed every official responsible for the security of Beirut’s port for the last six years under house arrest as it investigates a massive explosion which has devastated the city.
The country’s political leaders vowed those responsible for the tragedy would ‘pay the price’, but customs officials pointed the finger of blame back at them – saying they were repeatedly warned of the danger but failed to act.
On Tuesday evening a fire that started in Warehouse 9 ignited 2,750 tons of the chemical – sparking an explosion with three kilotons of force, equivalent to a fifth the size of the Hiroshima nuclear blast.
The health minister tonight announced the death toll had risen to 135, with some 5,000 wounded and dozens still missing in Beirut, which officials have called a ‘disaster city’.
