An Indonesian national reportedly suffered minor injuries due to a powerful explosion that shook the Lebanese capital of Beirut yesterday, Indonesian officials reported today.
“One of the injured victims was an Indonesian national who was successfully contacted by the Indonesian Embassy [in Beirut] and currently in a stable condition and can communicate well,” a statement from the Foreign Affairs Ministry reads, adding that the ministry will provide assistance until the victim recovers.
Hajriyanto Y Thohari, the Indonesian ambassador to Lebanon, identified the Indonesian national as Ni Nengah Ekawati, a Balinese worker at a spa in Jal El Dib area. After her wounds were treated at a hospital, she was allowed to return to her apartment where she lives with four other Indonesians.
There are at least 1,447 Indonesians in Beirut, with 1,234 of them being officers from the Indonesian Military deployed for a United Nations mission, while others are mainly students and workers, including embassy staff. Hajriyanto said all of them are safe, and the embassy is giving updates and maintaining communication with the diaspora mainly through Whatsapp.
Warehouses that stored highly explosive material at the Port of Beirut exploded at around 6pm local time yesterday, killing at least 78 people and injuring nearly 4,000 — numbers of which officials expect will rise. In a statement, Prime Minister Hassan Diab said that around 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate had been stored at the port for six years without safety measures, which he deemed “unacceptable.”
Ammonium nitrate is one of the main ingredients in fertilizers and certain types of explosives.
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