On a warm summer evening on August 4, 2020, Australian toddler Isaac Oehlers was sitting at home in Beirut eating dinner and singing one of his favourite songs, “Baby Shark”. One street over in Gemmayzeh, known for its hip bars and cafes, three-year-old Alexandra Naggear had just said goodbye to a playmate. A few blocks away, 15-year-old Elias Khoury, an aspiring rapper and architect, was in his bedroom over-looking the port when he noticed a fire. At 6.08pm, just as his mother went to warn him to move away from the windows, a catastrophic explosion tore through the city, crumbling buildings, twisting metal and shattering glass across the city.
One of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, the blast was the result of 2750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored improperly at the port for years. It killed more than 200 people, injured more than 7000 and instantaneously left 300,000 homeless. At least 10 children are believed to have died. Isaac, Alexandra and Elias were among them.
Eighteen months on, no-one has been held accountable for the explosion and the domestic investigation has been marred by delays and political interference, while the country has plunged into the worst economic crisis the world has seen
