The fire that broke out at the carpet factory in the Nabatieh District, last Friday, has hit the local economy and destabilized the 250 families who were subsisting from it. They are now without work amid severe economic conditions.
In addition, Lebanon is losing the only factory for the manufacture of carpets, which will inevitably lead to the shaking of the local industry.
The fire was due to a short circuit that hit the electrical panel of one of the new machines, and then the fire spread.
One of the workers told MTV: “Today’s fire was different. The civil defense personnel was unable to put it out. All their strenuous attempts failed.”
The Civil Defense is not equipped for similar fires, which hindered the extinguishing process. This is in addition to the reported delay of the Lebanese army in sending a helicopter to expedite the extinguishing of the fire.
Minister of Labor, Mustafa Bayram, who inspected the place of the fire, announced his assistance to the workers in providing temporary opportunities for them until the factory returns to its previous era.
Neither the Ministry of Industry will support, nor is the Ministry of Labor able to provide job opportunities in a country where the unemployment rate continues to increase.
This fire revealed once more the state’s inability to keep up with the fires.
According to MTV, one of the workers said: “The state that is unable to put out the fires of a building, how can it put out the economic fires burning in the country?”
Despite all ongoing crises, that factory had remained the only one able to export its goods abroad. Just two days earlier, it exported containers of products and was preparing 6 more containers to export on Saturday.
The fire ruined the threads, machines, and carpets, and even the factory walls collapsed due to the high heat, which led to losses of millions of dollars, reportedly exceeding $30 million.
This was not the first time that the factory was exposed to a fire. It incurred a similar fire disaster about 15 years ago.
Related: Massive Fire Broke Out In A Carpet Factory In South Lebanon (Video).
