A ‘huge fire’ that broke out in a fuel storage tank at Lebanon’s Zahrani oil facility has been contained, the country’s energy minister said from the site.
“The fire has been contained,” Energy Minister Walid Fayyad said, according to a tweet by the prime minister’s office.
Earlier, Fayyad told Al Jazeera that an army fuel tank was on fire. After reaching the Zahrani oil facilities, he told reporters he was not sure what caused the fire and whether it was intentional or not.
“We need to wait for the results of the investigation, and we have to be ready to take all the necessary based on the results,” Fayyad said. “The priority now is the people’s safety.”
The National News Agency had earlier said “a huge fire broke out in one of the tanks at the Zahrani facilities containing petrol”.
“The cause is not yet known,” it added.
At least 25 firetrucks are at the oil facility as firefighters put out the fire while cooling down surrounding tanks to prevent the blaze from spreading.
A spokesperson for the Lebanese Army told Al Jazeera on Monday that the fuel tank contained benzene.
“We’re now focusing on clearing residents from the area as we try to put out the fire,” the official said. “The priority now is to prevent the fire from reaching other tanks.”
The tanks at the Zahrani oil facilities store petrol and diesel that the Lebanese government has purchased.
“In addition to that, there is also some fuel for the army and reserve stock,” Energy Researcher Marc Ayoub told Al Jazeera.
One of Lebanon’s key power stations is also located in the vicinity.
The Zahrani power plant went out of commission on Saturday after running out of fuel. The Lebanese army donated some of its reserve stock on Sunday.
In late September, a vessel unloaded 16,000 tonnes of Iraqi fuel at the Zahrani facility, the first shipment in a swap deal between Beirut and Baghdad.
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