Fire breaks out at Lebanon’s Zahrani oil facility

By: Ernest Kalashnikov, Staff Reporter, The Pawprint 

Beirut, Lebanon – 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 steps 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.