SOURCE: (Al Jazeera)
Posted on 08/04/2022 9:44:44 AM PDT by BenLurkin
In a grim reminder of the disaster, several grain silos that were left heavily damaged by the blast collapsed on Thursday afternoon, only hundreds of metres away from where crowds were gathering at the city's waterfront.
The concrete silos cracked and fell, sending a cloud of smoke into the sky. Protesters covered their mouths in disbelief.
The protesters, wearing t-shirts stamped with blood-red handprints, were marching from Lebanon's justice ministry to the city's waterfront and then to parliament in the centre of Beirut.
The blast flattened swathes of the city on Aug 4, 2020, killing at least 220 people. One of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, it was caused by massive stores of ammonium nitrate kept at the site in the port and neglected since 2013.
Several senior officials have been accused of responsibility but, to date, none have been held to account - symptomatic, critics say, of a governing elite hamstrung by corruption and on whose watch Lebanon has descended into a political and economic crisis.
Lebanon's current President Michel Aoun said days after the blast that he had been warned about the chemical stores at the port and asked security chiefs to do what is necessary.
The prime minister at the time also said he had been informed - but no one warned the population about the dangers of the materials. An investigation into the blast has been stalled for more than six months.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Background info: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/4/infographic-how-big-was-the-beirut-explosion
One thing I remember was the bride having photos taken when the blast hit.
Bride during blast
It would be interesting to see a comparison between this blast and the other “great” ammonium nitrate explosions in history. Texas City, 1947. Halifax 1917 was NOT a ammonium nitrate explosion, nor was Black Tom 1916 but I seem to recall another Canadian blast that was.
Bride during blast
Sounds naughty
Gorgeous dress.
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