BEIRUT: Authorities in Sidon managed over the weekend to put out most of the fire at the southern city’s landfill but obstacles are hampering efforts to complete their task.

Efforts by Civil Defense, its maritime response unit and the Lebanese Airforce succeeded Saturday in putting out some 80 percent of the fire which erupted at the landfill early Thursday morning and forced a shutdown of the industrial sector in the southern city.

Operations to extinguish the remaining 20 percent of the fire have been impeded by power shortages – preventing teams from pumping water to douse the flames – and the bursting of a water pipe some 50 meters from the blaze. The latter obstacle means water has been transported from the Zahrani area, some 10 kilometers from the fire.

Officials and experts from the Sidon Municipality, and the Environment and Interior Ministries held a meeting a Saturday to come up with ways to overcome these obstacles to end the fire.

A Sidon Municipality source told The Daily Star that the participants agreed to take the additional step of using sand as a means of extinguishing the fire.