Posted on 08/08/2020 7:42:04 AM PDT by robowombat
Beirut port explosion mystery solved? UPDATES: 3 ships disappeared.
Mikhail Voytenko News August 5, 2020 3:28 pm
Aug 5 1515 UTC UPDATE: Cruise ship ORIENT QUEEN, berthed at Beirut near blast site, was seriously damaged, started taking on water, capsized and sank starboard along berth, remaining partially above waterline. 2 crew reportedly (but not yet confirmed) died.
Cruise ship ORIENT QUEEN, IMO 8701193, GT 7478, built 1989, flag Bahamas, operator Abou Merhi Cruises.
Aug 5 0730 UTC UPDATE: Three ships were berthed near explosion site, AIS of all these ships are off during last 14-16 hours, immediately or shortly after, the blast. General cargo ship MERO STAR, IMO 8321682, dwt 4110; general cargo ship RAOUF H, IMO 8325535, dwt 6343; Livestock carrier JOURI, IMO 9174775, GT 4033.
Aug 5 UPDATE: In Jul 2014, I’ve been asked by one of Russian national newspapers to investigate the story of general cargo ship RHOSUS, stranded in Beirut with cargo of ammonium nitrate, following the letter they received from the Captain of the ship. That’s what I found out:
General cargo vessel RHOSUS called Beirut, Lebanon, in October last year. Vessel loaded with ammonium nitrate was destined for another country, the reason she called Beirut is unclear, maybe for supplies or due to some mechanical trouble. RHOSUS was detained after PSC inspection, which found a number of deficiencies. Since then vessel is stranded in Beirut. By now only four crew stay on board – Master (Russian nationality), Chief and Third Engineers and Bosun, all of them Ukrainians. Vessel was owned and operated by Mr. Grechushkin Igor, Russian citizen now Cyprus resident (last known manager Teto Shipping, Cyprus). RHOSUS actually, is abandoned – owner doesn’t communicate, doesn’t pay salaries, doesn’t provide supplies. Owner of the cargo declared abandonment, too. Beirut authorities don’t permit the remaining crew to leave the vessel and fly to home. The reason is obvious, port authorities don’t want to be left with abandoned vessel on their hands, loaded with dangerous cargo, explosives, in fact. Why don’t they want to arrest vessel with cargo, to release the crew and replace it with temporary local crew, is unclear. https://www.fleetmon.com/maritime-news/2014/4194/crew-kept-hostages-floating-bomb-mv-rhosus-beirut/
Many believe that yesterday’s explosion in Beirut was caused by that ammonium nitrate cargo on board of RHOSUS. Probably. General cargo vessel Rhosus, IMO 8630344, dwt 3226, built 1986, flag Moldova.
A powerful explosion occurred in Beirut port area on Aug 4, killing and injuring dozens of people, and causing widespread damage. As of evening Aug 4, there’s no clarity with regards to the cause of explosion/explosions, and what triggered it. Russian witness insists he saw the ship on fire prior to blast, he managed to record fire and explosions on his mobile phone.
Strange how American newsies are not the least bit interested in the story.
It's not news. Can't be twisted to hurt Trump.
Interesting but still implies accidental and not military unless you want to say Russia sailed the ship in to blow it up.
It seems to me more likely that Beirut authorities ordered the ship next to the ammonium nitrate warehouse in case they had to offload it.
They aren’t ever trying to claim Trump is an investor in the shipping company ... must be slipping.
His theory is that there is another ship at the docks loaded with AN, that catches on fire and starts the fire / explosion?
Hmmm ... worth digging into.
I am honestly surprised we haven’t seen an argument put forth on why this is Trump’s fault. The #TDS out there is that bad.
Can someone interpret this? What the dickens does “these ships are off” mean? Were three ships sunk or were three ships missing or did three ships leave the port?
“”Three ships were berthed near explosion site, AIS of all these ships are off during last 14-16 hours, immediately or shortly after, the blast. General cargo ship MERO STAR, IMO 8321682, dwt 4110; general cargo ship RAOUF H, IMO 8325535, dwt 6343; Livestock carrier JOURI, IMO 9174775, GT 4033.””
“It seems to me more likely that Beirut authorities ordered the ship next to the ammonium nitrate warehouse in case they had to offload it.”
Yea, I’m thinking they were trying to unload it also. But why sit there so long? One theory (only conjecture on my part) was that they could have been warned that an ‘accident’ might happen if that ship started to unload, since it’s obviously where the explosives were heading. Then it became a stalemate and maybe they forgot about the warning, or didn’t take it seriously.
Amazing photo.
New vid on this site I’ve not seen before from a very close position. Shows the first explosion and subsequent fire. Fireworks going off all over the place and a very hot fire inside the building. Goes on for a few seconds before the big blast.
There is a chunk missing from the wharf. Is it due to a section collapsing, or something else?
Filling in the mystery of why the ship went there, the retired master said the owner directed them to divert to that port.
Possibly it was a cargo delivery disguised as a confiscation of the cargo.
That’sa crater blown into the land.
AIS is automatic identification system. It’s a GPS-based tracking and identification system for ships. The article is simply saying that the AIS tracking for those three ships got shut off somehow during the previous 14-16 hours — most likely when the ships exploded and were destroyed.
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