Box 500 Station A Toronto, ON Canada, M5W 1E6. "The ship was old, and the cover of the hold bent," Musinchak said by phone. What is ammonium nitrate, and how did it cause such a devastating explosion in Beirut? WATCH | See some of the worst damage left by the blast: Reuters could not immediately reach Lebanon's justice minister for comment. The retired sea captain said he was baffled earlier this week when he awoke to find an email from a journalist asking him about the Rhosus. CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices. Vessel loaded with ammonium nitrate was destined for another country, the reason she called Beirut is unclear, maybe for supplies or due to some mechanical trouble. Prokoshev said the ship had a hole in the hull, and the crew, while on it, had to regularly pump water out to keep it afloat. The company used to ship a huge stockpile of ammonium nitrate to Beirut port, where it caused a devastating explosion last August, has been linked … "Charalambos Manoli, the Cypriot businessman who owned the ship before Grechushkin bought it, claims the vessel remained docked in Beirut and was destroyed in the blast on Tuesday; he says he saw the wreckage in the photos of the destroyed port" (!) The current position of RHODOS is at Caribbean Sea (coordinates 10.86357 N / 75.4921 W) reported 4 days ago by AIS. "I feel sorry for the people [killed or injured in the blast]. At some point, Prokoshev said, he sold some of the ship's fuel and used the cash to hire lawyers, who got the crew released on compassionate grounds in 2014. Initial Lebanese investigations into what happened have pointed to inaction and negligence in the handling of the potentially dangerous chemical. According to Prokoshev, the ship had been leaking but was seaworthy when it sailed into Beirut in September 2013. Arrest notices issued for men connected to 2,750 tonnes of explosive material shipped into Beirut’s port. In October 2013 the MV Rhosus, a ship sailing under the Moldovan flag, headed from Georgia to Mozambique carrying a huge supply of ammonium nitrate, a … Details for the ship M V Rhosus , IMO 8630339, Sailing vessel, Position Aegean Sea with current real time AIS position and ship photos by vesseltracker.com. MV Rhosus is seen in Volos, Greece, on April 19, 2013. Cypriot shipping magnate is true owner of controversial Rhosus vessel-OCCRP The true owner of Rhosus vessel which shipped over to Beirut port the devastating explosives cargo that rocked the city on August 4 was Charalambos Manoli – a Cypriot shipping magnate, according to an investigative report published by OCCRP and Partners last Friday. Immigration restrictions forced the captain and three crew members to remain onboard while the legal dispute dragged on for 11 months, without wages and with only limited supplies of food. Levan Burdiladze, the Rustavi Azot plant director, told Reuters that his company had only operated the chemical factory for the last three years and so he could not confirm whether the ammonium nitrate was produced there. "It could have ruined the whole ship, and I said no.". The ship might have succeeded in leaving Beirut had it managed to load the additional cargo. The ship, named the MV Rhosus, was destined for Mozambique -- but stopped in Beirut due to financial difficulties that also created unrest with the ship's Russian and Ukrainian crew. The huge blast killed more than 145 people, injured 5,000, flattened buildings and made more than a quarter of a million people homeless. The events leading up to the catastrophic explosion in Beirut, Lebanon that killed more than 135 and injured 5,000, began in November 2013, when the cargo ship MV Rhosus, loaded with 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, made an unplanned stop in Beirut.. Prokoshev identified the ship's owner as Russian businessman Igor Grechushkin. Attempts to contact Grechushkin were unsuccessful. This has fostered a culture of impunity. Top Lebanese politicians quickly united in their condemnation of Sawan, arguing he did not have the authority to prosecute top officials because of political immunity, even as legal groups – including the prestigious Beirut Bar Association – said doing so was fully within his powers. The New York Times has published satellite images of the submerged hull of the ship, the MV Rhosus, on the northern edge of the port. Her IMO number is 8630344 and MMSI number is 214181621. Radio Free Europe (RFE) deduced this must be a reference to the MV Rhosus, a ship owned by Russian businessman Igor Grechushkin impounded by Lebanese officials in 2013 because the ship was suffering technical problems when it entered the Port of Beirut. Sawan paused his investigation on December 17 to allow a court to rule on Zaeiter and Khalil’s motion to dismiss him, but a judge on Monday said he should resume the probe. He called the decision to store the material in Beirut port a "gross violation of safe storage measures, considering that ammonium nitrate loses its useful properties in six months.". Prokoshev and lawyers acting for some creditors accused the ship's owner of abandoning the vessel without paying his outstanding debts to the port or the crew. The Rhosus … General cargo vessel Rhosus called Beirut, Lebanon, in October last year. A notice was also issued for Portuguese national Jorge Moreira, who allegedly bought the explosive material from Georgian factory Rustavi Azot. An analysis of a satellite image from February 2018 commissioned from space technology company Maxar by the New York Times showed the sunken ship a few hundred metres from the warehouse where its cargo was stored. The MV Rhosus arrived at the port in 2013 carrying 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate Lebanon's government has blamed the huge blast that devastated parts of … Those named are Igor Grechushkin, a Russian businessman and apparent owner of the MV Rhosus that brought the ammonium nitrate into Beirut in late 2013, as well as the ship’s captain at the time, Borys Prokoshew, who is also Russian. The captain of the ship, the MV Rhosus, has previously been named as a Russian national, and its owner a Russian national based in Cyprus. After the explosive cargo entered Beirut’s port in 2013, Lebanese political, security and judicial officials failed to remove it from a hangar in the port for six years despite repeated warnings. But the ship never left Beirut, the crew having tried and failed to safely load the additional cargo and the owners getting embroiled in a lengthy legal dispute over port fees. The arrow to the heart of Beirut turns out to have been the cargo ship MV Rhosus, in transit from Georgia (the Caucasian country, not the state) to a mine in Mozambique. The ship was never supposed to stop in Beirut, but its owner wanted to pick up extra cargo, claims Prokoshev. Authorities believed the ship in question, MV Rhosus, belonged to a Russian businessman named Igor Grechuskhin who declared bankruptcy not long after coast guard officials in Lebanon impounded the ship for mechanical violations and transferred its dangerous cargo of chemical fertilizer to a warehouse, where it remained until it exploded in early August, killing over 120 people and … 102.132.212.174 (talk) 00:38, 7 August 2020 (UTC) According to Prokoshev, he received an email in May 2018 from a lawyer telling him the ship sank "recently.". In 2013, after it became clear the additional cargo could not be accommodated, Lebanese authorities impounded the vessel for failing to pay port fees. Lebanon asks Interpol to detain two Russians over Beirut blast, In Beirut’s glass, fragments of a city rebuilding, Lebanon PM, former ministers charged over Beirut blast, At least 48 people killed in Sudan’s Darfur clashes, Uncertainty as Palestine’s Abbas announces elections, A decade after revolution, Tunisia’s women face an uphill battle, Biden to reverse Trump’s Muslim ban on inauguration day, FBI probing Capitol riot link to foreign governments, groups, Costa Rica’s ‘explosive’ debt crisis: All you need to know. Closed Captioning and Described Video is available for many CBC shows offered on CBC Gem. A judicial source told Al Jazeera on Tuesday Public Prosecutor Ghassan Khoury received a letter informing him the so-called “red notices” had been issued, based on the request of Lebanon’s judiciary. But local authorities, the Lebanese, should be punished. A Cyprus police spokesman said an individual, whom he did not name, had been questioned at the request of Interpol Beirut in relation to the cargo. The MV Rhosus Sirotencu Liviu Badri Daher, director general of Lebanese customs, told broadcaster LBCI on Wednesday that customs had sent six … Sawan will restart questioning on January 25 when a harsh COVID-19 lockdown in Lebanon is set to end, a source close to the judge told Al Jazeera, saying he would be unable to summon defendants or issue subpoenas before then. Vessel loaded with ammonium nitrate was destined for another country, the reason she called Beirut is unclear, maybe for supplies or due to some mechanical trouble. ‘Unprecedented exodus’: Why are migrant workers leaving the UK? They did not care about the cargo at all," he said. The ship is said to have entered Beirut port in September 2013 due to technical difficulties and was eventually banned from continuing its voyage. "They were being greedy," said Boris Prokoshev, who was captain of the Rhosus in 2013 when, he says, the owner told him to make an unscheduled stop in Lebanon to pick up extra cargo. The vessel RHOSUS (IMO: 8630344) is a General Cargo Ship built in 1986 (34 years old) and currently sailing under the flag of Unknown. Those named are Igor Grechushkin, a Russian businessman and apparent owner of the MV Rhosus that brought the ammonium nitrate into Beirut in late 2013, as well as the ship… "We decided not to take risks.". They are not the same as international arrest warrants. "The cargo was highly explosive. The crew were asked to load some heavy road equipment and take it to Jordan's Port of Aqaba before resuming their journey to Africa, where the ammonium nitrate was to be delivered to an explosives manufacturer. The Russian cargo ship Rhosus, which in September 2013 brought 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate to Lebanon, a cargo which is suspected … Cypriot police questioned Grechushkin at his home in Cyprus on Thursday, a security source said. The head of Beirut port and the head of customs said that several letters were sent to the judiciary asking for the material be removed, but no action was taken. The vessel is en route to the port of Algeciras, sailing at a speed of 21.0 knots and expected to arrive there on Aug 31, 22:00. Beirut, Lebanon – Interpol has issued three international arrest notices for the owner and captain of a ship that brought 2,750 tonnes of explosive material into Beirut’s port seven years before it exploded in the deadly August 2020 blast. The damage at Beirut's port, where the blast occurred, shows the full power of the explosion. 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