Fire at recycling factory rages for several hours in Sidon

SIDON, Lebanon: A factory fire raged Sunday afternoon in Sidon, sending plumes of black smoke over the city and injuring two. The cause of the fire, which began at a factory that recycles plastic and spread to a neighboring warehouse, is unknown. Both of the buildings are owned by Yehya Hariri.

Two factory workers were hospitalized as a result of smoke inhalation.

It took civil defense teams several hours to put out the flames because of hot winds as well as highly flammable items inside the buildings including car batteries, a large quantity of plastic and cork.

Reinforcements were called in from Sarafand, Anqoun and Tyre. In addition to sending jets of water at the blaze, firefighters used sand to extinguish the fire. Sidon Mayor Mohammad Saudi asked the Lebanese Army Command for a helicopter to assist in controlling the blaze.

Also Sunday, a bus full of passengers on their way to a conference in Nabatieh caught fire on the Zaharani-Nabatieh Highway after a short circuit. There were no injuries as all passengers managed to evacuate before the vehicle was consumed by flames.

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