• Guest Register
    If you are reading this it means you have not yet registered. Please take a second to REGISTER (it's FREE). You will then be able to enjoy all the features of Cruising Earth.

Cruise ship capsizes after explosion in Port of Beirut, Lebanon

Cruising Earth News

Administrator
Staff member
orient-queen-capsized.jpg


The https://www.cruisingearth.com/ship-tracker/abou-merhi-cruises/orient-queen/']Orient Queen cruise ship owned by https://www.cruisingearth.com/ship-tracker/abou-merhi-cruises/']Abou Merhi Cruises was docked in its' homeport of https://www.cruisingearth.com/port-tracker/middle-east/beirut-lebanon/']Beirut, Lebanon when a massive explosion occurred at the port. The incident is still under investigation but it has been confirmed that nearly 2750 tons of Ammonium Nitrate was set off by a fire at the port. The explosion that resulted killed over 135, injured over 5,000, and over are 100 still missing. Beirut Gov. Marwan Abboud stated over 300,000 have also been left homeless. A large portion of the Port of Beirut was flattened and many ships within it were severely damaged or destroyed.

The Orient Queen was docked less than 1500 feet from the main explosion. The ship began to list to it's starboard side immediately after the explosion and within hours took on enough water to capsize. At the time of the explosion there were crew members onboard. It has been confirmed that at least 2 crew members have died and an additional 7 have been listed in critical condition.

The explosion also destroyed the head office of the ship's operator, Abou Merhi Cruises. The offices were located very near to where the ship was docked.

The Orient Queen, in the image below, can be seen listing to the starboard side shortly after the explosion on August 4, 2020.
orient-queen-listing.jpg



By the next morning, on August 5, 2020, the ship would be capsized.


 
Back
Top
Ad Blocker Detected - Please Allow Ads On Our Site

It looks like you may be utilizing ad blocking software or another ad filtering technology while visiting Cruising Earth. Certain areas of this site may not work properly because of this, particularly live updates of ship trackers and webcams.

We work hard to strike a balance between content and ads and as a free site we greatly appreciate your support in permitting ads to render. Ads help us cover our server and maintenance costs, which helps us continue to keep this site free to use. You also don't want to miss out on any specials or discounts posted from the Cruise & Travel Industry! For the best site experience please disable your ad blockers for cruisingearth.com, then click the button below. Thank you.

I've Disabled My AdBlocker