Beirut, May 11 (IANS): Lebanese Judge Tarek Bitar said that he has sent more than 20 requests to foreign countries for satellite images in attempts to find facts about the August 2020 Port of Beirut explosions.

In a statement on Monday, Bitar said he also sent requests to local official departments about gathering information that will support the investigations into the massive twin explosions, reports Xinhua news agency.

He noted that he is working on the technical aspect of the investigations, which is supposed to confirm or deny the many potential hypotheses about the nature of the explosions and the way they occurred.

The Lebanese judicial system has been on many occasions criticized by families of the victims of the Beirut explosions for the slow process of investigation.

However, the lawyers concerned said such big explosions usually require a lot of time and enormous efforts to reach proper results, especially with the absence of satellite images that show the port "before, during and after" the devastating explosions.

Two huge explosions ripped through the Port of Beirut on August 4, 2020, killing about 200 people, injuring at least 6,000 others and leaving 300,000 homeless.

A big part of the Lebanese capital was destroyed in the disaster.

Investigations pointed to the roughly 500 tonnes of ammonium nitrate left at the port as the cause of the explosions.