it is four months since a devastating
explosion tore through the center of the
lebanese capital beirut
killing about 200 people and injuring
many more
an investigation that was promised
within days has yet to detail the cause
of the blast
dozens of arrests have been made but
nobody has been held responsible
and none of the victims compensated the
epicenter was beirut port
where the country's only cruise ship the
orient queen was docked
from there our middle east correspondent
quentin somerville sent this report
lebanon is living in a state of
aftermath
a country turned on its head this was
its only cruise ship
the orient queen four months ago it took
the
full force of the explosion at the port
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only the crew was on board they watched
as a warehouse fire took hold
not knowing what was to come
the ship's home port and safe harbor
lay in ruins the orient queen was
upright
but the engine room was flooding and
crew members were missing
on the key side chef michael villanueva
was badly injured
our ship's interior was wrecked we had a
hard time getting out
i didn't feel the second blast because i
was slammed into a wall on the first one
when i came to i tried to stand but my
leg was shattered
now back in the philippines four
operations later
they've managed to save his leg
the port and much of beirut was in chaos
at the orient queen they were still
searching for missing crew
it took more than two hours to find the
body
of haile retta the ethiopian crewman
had been blown off the ship he was found
at a nearby pier
mustafa i wrote wouldn't be found for
days
his father traveled from syria his dna
was used to identify his son's remains
the explosion tore away any remaining
shred of credibility
from a government that stored for yields
dangerous chemicals
here in the heart of the city
it's too much for the brain to accept
and for the heart to even
handle it
is the ship's owner if this happened to
metal and to
concrete can you even imagine
she's seeing the wreckage for the first
time
like many here she's overwhelmed with
anger and disbelief
that a disaster so easily avoidable was
allowed to happen
i blame every person that knew what was
there
at the port and not taking action
so many lives so many innocent people
have lost
loved ones has have lost their homes
their work
their dreams it's not just us
it's not just the orient queen it's
everyone dozens of arrests have been
made
but an investigation that was promised
to take only days
four months later is still dragging on
this is a crime scene the government
knew that the dangerous chemicals were
being stored here
so did the judiciary so too did the port
authorities
it was only the lebanese people who were
being kept in the dark
and few of them believe that the truth
will ever emerge from this pit
of corruption the orient queen
is lost she'll never sail again and the
reputation of the authorities
that allowed this to happen is beyond
salvage
quentin somerville bbc news beirut