Preliminary Report Cites 3 Likely Causes of Fassouh Building Fall

The removal of a wall, adjacent construction and moving groundwater are among the likely causes of a recent fatal building collapse in the Ashrafiyeh neighborhood of Fassouh, a preliminary report revealed on Friday.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel, who announced the report’s findings after heading a meeting for the follow-up committee tasked with probing the incident, said additional steps would be made before submitting a final report.

“The necessary measures will be taken in order to submit the final report after we receive a copy of the report prepared by the specialized engineers and the results of the soil survey,” Charbel said.

“The committee’s first meeting was preparatory and aimed at giving instructions and listening to what the specialized engineers and technicians have to say, in parallel with the judicial investigation,” the minister added, noting that “the public prosecutor’s office has tasked specialized legal engineers with conducting examinations and submitting a report in order to identify the main reasons behind the collapse of the Fassouh building.”

According to Charbel, the preliminary report cited “the removal of an old wall from the ground floor or the first floor for the purpose of internal partitioning” as a possible reason behind the collapse.

The second possibility could be “the limited negative impact caused by the construction of the new adjacent building.”

The report also cites “the factor of moving groundwater,” Charbel added, noting that “this issue requires a soil survey.”

He said a final report would be issued on February 15, 2012.

Beirut Examining Magistrate Ghassan Owaidat questioned on Friday four witnesses in the collapse of the building in Ashrafiyeh, which left 27 people dead.

The National News Agency said Owaidat heard the testimonies of four engineers and postponed the hearing to February 17.

Last week, Oweidat issued two arrest warrants for Claude and Michel Saadeh, the owners of the building in Ashrafiyeh’s Fassouh area.

The Council of Development and Reconstruction began on Wednesday dismantling the metal bridge on the Jal el-Dib highway that links Beirut with the North after warnings the structure could also collapse.

The Fassouh building’s collapse on January 15 put the spotlight on the dismal state of old properties across the country and sparked widespread anger and accusations that authorities had failed to address the problem.

The head of parliament’s public works committee, MP Mohammed Qabbani, had warned that 20,000 buildings could face a fate similar to Fassouh’s.