The captain of Beirut's ill-fated cargo

A massive explosion rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut on August 4, killing at least 190 people and injuring at least 6,500 more. The blast caused devastating material damage to the city, leaving an estimated 300,000 people homeless.

Lebanese authorities traced the explosion to the storage of over 2,700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate at a warehouse at the city’s port, where it had been held for six years.

Boris Prokoshev was captain of the Rhosus ship when it brought ammonium nitrate to Beirut’s port in 2013. The Russian sailor sat down for an interview with Rudaw reporter Khalid Hussein on August 24, 2020.

The journey to Beirut fraught with problems from its very beginning, with staff discontent and unpaid and the ship old and leaking when it was sailed to Beirut, Prokoshev told Rudaw. He said he did not know that it was illegal under Lebanese anti-terror laws for substances like ammonium nitrate to be stored in the country.

Rudaw: From what you can remember, tell us when you started working on that ship? When and how‪?‬‬‬

I’ve worked on that ship twice. The first time was in May 2012. The second time, I was sitting at home; they called me and said, ‘We need a captain, are you ready to work?’ I said yes. When I went, they told me I’d be on the Rhosus ship. Great, I said, I’ve worked on that ship before, and I am ready to do it again. It was in 2013, I think it was the end of September.‬
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Did you know what the cargo was and where you would be taking it? 

When we got to the ship, all the crew who were working there before us had been replaced. I asked them why they changed the crew – they said the crew doesn’t want to take the cargo to Mozambique, that’s why we changed them. Later, they handed us a document we had to sign to say that we wanted to go to Mozambique. That’s not something I’ve told anyone before, I just remembered it now. We also each had to sign a separate document to say we agreed to Mozambique. 

We flew to Turkey. There is a port in Turkey called Tuzla, where the old crew was replaced and sent home. I asked them again why they made the change, and they said they don’t want to go to Mozambique, because it is both far away and dangerous.

I saw that there were two other captains coming with me, and I asked them why. They said that one of the captains’ licenses had expired, so Igor Grechushkin [the ship owner] hired another captain, one with a license. They said they were coming with me to renew the license and some other documents. Only one of them was managing the sip’s operations, which was strange to me – why pay for two captains when one was not needed, and gets paid for doing nothing? If his license had expired, what is he doing on that ship? He could’ve gone home and renewed his license. 

So, from the very beginning you noticed there was something unusual? 

Yes, yes. 

So, why didn’t you turn down the job?

I asked them if there is a problem with the work. They said there wasn’t. I asked them if they’d pay me, and on time, and they said they would. So I thought I’d see what happens. I constantly wondered why they changed the crew. I accepted the work because I like long voyages. I wanted to go to Mozambique. 

The old crew left the ship, and we headed to Greece. As were passing Greece, I looked at one of the ship’s computers and I saw some documents and letters. That was how I learned the real reason for why the former crew had quit. They’d been working for four months without getting paid. They hired four people to push the ship director to pay them their wages. After putting on some pressure, the old crew received their salaries before they left. I was so angry at the former crew – if they’d told me the truth and said they hadn’t been paid, I wouldn’t have taken a single step onto the ship in Turkey. I’d have gone home with the old crew. I asked them many times about the issue [why they were leaving]. They said that everything was fine, that there was no problem. They said nothing else.

How much were you to be paid, according to the contract? And how long was the contract for?

We signed a six-month contract, $3,500 a month. 

As you know, your cargo blew up in Beirut. I want to know, when did you first hear the news?

I heard through an email. When I checked the email, I saw it was from the Rhosus ship directorate. I was happy at first – I thought they might have sent me my money. When I opened the email, it said that ammonium nitrate had exploded in Beirut. I knew that it was our ammonium nitrate that had been stored there, and that it had exploded.

For how long did you end up working on that ship? 

I stayed there for eleven months. 

You said you signed the contract for six months. Why were you on the ship for eleven months? 

Because the Lebanese authorities detained me and wouldn’t let me leave. They detained me on a court order. They would say that Igor Grechushkin had to come and pay what he owes them. It was for the cost of docking the ship at the Beirut port and for loading another cargo, but they didn’t do it. They said they’d let us go if they paid what they owed.

I sent them many letters and requests, saying that my contract was finished, and that according to the law, I didn’t have the right to stay and work there. They said they wouldn’t allow me to leave. 

How much money did you earn on that job? 

I didn’t earn a cent. They just fed me. 

How many crew members did you have? 

There were ten of us. After two months, six of them returned home. I and three others remained to look after the cargo, without getting paid. 

Why were you stuck in Beirut? 

We went to Beirut because we were supposed to load another cargo there. But we couldn’t load that cargo, because it was too heavy. We tried to bring it on board, but one side of the ship was tilting. If you were there, you’d have told us not to load that cargo. 

But Igor Grechushkin, the ship’s owner, pushed me for a week to load the cargo on the ship. I’d tell him that we couldn’t, that it could destroy the port too. I told him to load the cargo at his expense. He didn’t, because he knew it was impossible to load that cargo because it was too heavy. 

We, as the ship’s crew, decided not to go to Mozambique because we thought he wouldn’t pay us, just like he’d done to the former crew. We thought he’d dismiss us in Mozambique and wouldn’t take care of us. There was no Russian or Ukrainian embassy in Mozambique. We told Igor Grechushkin that we would not be going to Mozambique. He said that was okay, but asked if we could go to Cyprus. We agreed, but we were detained in Beirut because we had not paid for our docking at Beirut’s port. That’s how the problem happened. 

Did you know what the cargo was? 

Yes, of course I knew. 

Did you expect that it could explode? 

I didn’t, because it doesn’t explode on its own.

So why did it explode? 

For that substance [ammonium nitrate] to explode, you’d have to ignite it, or place a bomb under it, or throw a grenade into it. That means it would explode via another explosion. That substance was very well kept. It was there for years, so why hadn’t it exploded beforehand?

Are you saying the ammonium nitrate did not explode on its own?

I am one hundred percent sure.

So how do you think it exploded? 

There might have been a fire or a bomb thrown into it. There was a reason behind the explosion of that substance. 

Who was the actual owner of the ship? 

It was Igor Grechushkin. I knew him and I signed the contract with him. Yes, Igor Grechushkin was the owner of the ship. 

There are media reports that Igor Grechushkin had an agreement with one of Lebanon’s opposition parties, Hezbollah. It is said that they might have put the cargo there, intending  its explosion.

Look, let’s suppose that this is true. Why did the ship owner find a buyer for the cargo in Cyprus when we refused to go to Mozambique? He tried hard to have us leave Beirut port with the cargo.

That’s the first question. The second question is, who forced the ship owner to put the cargo in a very safe and secure place, adhering to all the safety instructions and storing it underground safely? The cargo was kept there in a way that it would not pose any danger. It was kept there in this way for years – no one pushed him to do that. 

How do you feel when you see more than 150 people lost their lives and thousands were injured due to the cargo you brought? 

How should I feel? I have nothing to do with that incident. I don’t feel I am the criminal. But I feel for the people who became victims. I watched the videos showing houses left with no windows due to the explosion. Some people used to live there, and now they aren’t there. That makes me sad, but what should we do? Even though I want to help them, I actually can’t do anything for them. The work I did was routine work. If I had purposefully put a substance there to be blown up, then of course I’d blame myself. But that was very normal international cargo.

It is true that according to Lebanese anti-terror law, it is prohibited to store that substance on its lands – but I didn’t know that. I have only known since that is prohibited to store ammonium nitrate there.

For how many years was the ammonium nitrate stored there?

I left Lebanon in 2014, so the cargo has been stored there since either the end of 2014 or the beginning of 2015. I sent several letters to my lawyer many times, and he had us released legally so that we could return to our country. By law, the owner of the ship had to pay us, so I asked the lawyer several times if the cargo was sold so that we could get paid from the profits of its sale.

He said that the cargo is in storage. They still haven’t paid our salaries, even though we asked for our right through our lawyer. We even gave him $1,500, to release us and to get our wages. We filled out a form in court to give 25% of our salaries to the lawyer, if he could get them back. I thought the lawyer could do that. He told me he tried a lot to get Igor Grechushkin to pay us our salaries, but it didn’t work. 

Do you know where Igor Grechushkin is now? 

I‘ve been told he’s in Cyprus. From what I know, he’s been called by the police and he was asked questions. He was later released. The case is now with the police. 

Following the explosions, have you spoken with the people who were with you on the ship? 

Yes, after the explosion one of them messaged me and called me as well. He was the third member of the ship’s operational staff. I told him that I have no clear explanation for it. The wife of one of my colleagues also called me via Skype, her husband was an experienced captain with us on the ship, but he is dead. I told her I don’t have any information and I don’t think they would give us the salary. Later, one of our colleagues, whose name was Boris, called me for the salary. I told him that there is nothing so far. 

Have you had any problems following the explosion? 

No, I haven’t any problems, no officials have contacted me. 

But you’ve been asked to go to Lebanon. Why? 

Yes, they’ve contacted me and said you should come to Lebanon to explain some details. But I don’t know these details.

Are you ready to go to Beirut? 

If the Russian embassy guarantees that I can stay with them when I go to Lebanon, and go with embassy employees to the place where I should answer questions, or those who want me to answer the questions come to the embassy, and they allow me to come back to Russia, then yes, on these conditions I am ready. And, of course, if my health allows it, because my blood pressure is high. 

When did you see the Rhosus ship for the last time? 

I saw her in a picture a while ago. She was half sunken.

Did it sink after the explosion? 

No, it sank before the explosion. 

Where is she now? 

She is still at the Beirut port. 

Was she hit by the explosion? 

No, it was in 2018 that the ship had partially sunk.

So the ship is out of use? 

There was a small hole in the ship at the time, through which water was coming in. We would constantly fill the hole, but it would keep reappearing when we filled it. In the four years since we left the ship, no one was there to fill the hole. For sure it had filled with water, sinking it.

After all that’s happened, how do you plan to get your money? Is the case closed, or you are still trying to get what you are owed?

I only want my salary. When I came back here, I was told that the customs police and their offices tried to find a buyer for the cargo of ammonium nitrate, and to pay us from that money. I asked them why they didn’t tell us that at the time. If they had come to us and told us that they were trying to find buyers for the cargo, and pay us and so we could go back home, they could have told us to take care of the cargo and we could’ve done that until it was sold. We could have waited until the job was finished and returned. But they told us nothing, and no one works for free. That’s why we came back home. 

Did the ship have any technical problems at that time? 

Yes, of course, it had a lot of problems. It was old, and had engine problems. It had a lot of problems that needed fixing, but nobody took care of them.

Did you notice any violations in terms of the weight and size of the cargo? Was it loaded correctly? 

I didn’t know how much the cargo weighed, because I couldn’t weigh it. It was so heavy that it could not be weighed easily. The former crew loaded and weighed it. That issue was beyond my control.

You were there for eleven months – for exactly how long were you on the ship?

I was on the ship the full eleven months. 

Are there any happy or unhappy memories from the ship that you’ve kept hold of?

The unpleasant memory was that they wouldn’t allow us to return home. They wouldn’t tell us when they would send us home. We didn’t even know if they’d release us. The ship owner left the vessel with the cargo on it 

They told us we weren’t allowed to unload the cargo. We didn’t know what would happen to the cargo. The person Igor Grechushkin sold the cargo never came. If he had come, we wouldn’t have given him the cargo until he paid our salaries. We waited for a long time, but the cargo’s buyer never appeared. Even now, nobody knows whose cargo it was.

That was the unpleasant memory. What pleasant memory do you have from your time on the ship?

We saw nothing [of Beirut]. They didn’t allow us to go to the city centre. They took all our passports and other documents. It was also very hot, and we didn’t have any air conditioners. 

Unable to see land and isolated, how did you feel for the eleven months on the ship?

How could I feel? I’m used to being on water. I have been working on the sea since I was 18. I have 23 years of service on an army warship , until I quit my job in 1993. Since then I worked on civilian vessels.

It is said that the actual owner of the ship was not Igor Grechushkin. Was it someone else? 

I worked on that ship in 2012. It was owned by a company called Interfleet, which was based in Cyprus. Grechushkin’s company was named Teta Ship. The offices of both companies were in a building in Cyprus. They were separated only by a wall. They were friends. Grechushkin bought that ship from Interfleet. I don’t know how he got it, or whether it was rented on some other deal. No one told me anything. It is said that Grechushkin was indebted to a bank, and the bank asked the Lebanese authorities to confiscate Grechushkin’s cargo. 

What do you have to say to the people of Lebanon? 

I send my condolences to them, and I feel sorry for them. It is really unfortunate when someone lives safely and death comes to him suddenly. For example, we are now sitting here, if there is an explosion close to us and we lose our lives that would be a catastrophe. But we can’t bring them back to live. The criminals must be found and punished.

Translation by Sarkawt Mohammed

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