Lebanese environment minister, Damianos Kattar, resigned on Sunday in the wake of the powerful deadly blast in the port of Beirut, media reported.
According to Al-Jadeed broadcaster, the country`s Prime Minister Hassan Diab was trying to persuade Kattar to continue performing his duties on this post.
Earlier in the day, Lebanese Information Minister Manal Abdel Samad announced her resigning from office in the wake of the massive explosion in Beirut and subsequent civil anti-government unrest.
On Saturday, thousands of people took to the streets of Beirut, demanding the government to resign. Protesters have stormed four ministries and the banks association.
Late on Tuesday, the massive warehouse explosion sent a devastating blast wave across Beirut, killing at least 100 people and injuring nearly 4,000, Lebanese rescue workers were seen digging through the mangled wreckage of buildings on Wednesday looking for survivors. Officials said the toll was expected to rise after Tuesday’s blast at port warehouses that stored highly explosive material.
The blast was the most powerful ever to rip through Beirut, a city still scarred by civil war three decades ago and reeling from an economic meltdown and a surge in coronavirus infections.
“We are witnessing a real catastrophe,” said Prime Minister of Lebanon Hassan Diab as he appealed to all countries and friends of Lebanon to extend help to the nation. The cause of the explosion is presumably 2,700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, a common industrial chemical used as fertilizer and a component in mining explosives.
The Prime Minister also declared a national day of mourning for the victims of the explosion and promised accountability.
(With agency inputs)