Bulgaria Arrests Shipowner Linked To Deadly 2020 Beirut Port Blast That Killed 218

Bulgarian police have arrested Igor Grechushkin, the Russian-Cypriot shipowner linked to the cargo of ammonium nitrate that caused the devastating Beirut port explosion in 2020. Lebanese judicial officials confirmed that he was detained last week at Vasil Levski Airport in Sofia after arriving on a flight from Cyprus.

Grechushkin was arrested almost five years after a Lebanese judge issued two Interpol arrest warrants, one for him and one for the Russian captain of the vessel, Boris Prokoshev. Authorities are preparing paperwork to request his transfer to Lebanon for questioning. If extradition is not granted, Lebanese investigators may travel to Bulgaria to interrogate him there.

The case involves the Moldovan-flagged cargo ship Rhosus, which carried 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate to Beirut in November 2013. The shipment was destined for a mining company in Mozambique but was diverted to Lebanon after the ship had mechanical problems, or possibly to pick up extra cargo. Once in Beirut, the ship was detained for safety issues, and its owner abandoned it soon after. The ship eventually sank at a pier.

The dangerous cargo was offloaded and stored in a port warehouse near Beirut’s grain silos, where it remained for years without proper safeguards. On August 4, 2020, a fire in the warehouse triggered a massive explosion, killing at least 218 people, injuring over 6,000, and destroying large parts of the city. The damage was estimated in billions of dollars and worsened Lebanon’s already severe economic crisis, described by the World Bank as one of the worst in modern history.

Investigations later found that only about one-fifth of the stored ammonium nitrate actually exploded, raising suspicions that a large portion of the cargo had been secretly removed. The storage site also had serious security lapses. Workers had been welding the doors of the warehouse to secure it on the day of the disaster, which likely triggered the initial fire and the deadly blast.

Focus quickly shifted to the ship that delivered the cargo. While Grechushkin was widely identified as the owner who abandoned the Rhosus, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) later suggested another Cypriot shipping magnate may have been the vessel’s ultimate beneficial owner, with Grechushkin acting more as a charterer.

Lebanon’s investigation faced many setbacks. Back in December 2020, Fadi Sawan, who was heading the investigation, held former Prime Minister Hassan Diab and three former ministers accountable for failing in their duties, but he was soon removed after political interference. His replacement, Judge Tarek Bitar, tried to summon senior political, security, and judicial officials, but those efforts were blocked by legal challenges and resistance from the country’s ruling elite.

The investigation gathered momentum in early 2025 after President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam took office, both promising justice for the victims and hold perpetrators accountable. The new government immediately empowered Judge Bitar to continue his work, coinciding with the arrest of shipowner Grechushkin.

References: AP News, euronews

Source: Maritime Shipping News