Posted on 08/05/2020 4:52:03 AM PDT by servo1969
Shortly before 6 PM Beirut time reports began flooding Twitter of a fire and a series of explosions in Beirut. It rapidly became evident that event was far more than a small industrial fire.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx8WQqUGk1M
-----snip------
Conclusion
From the available information it is clear that shortly before 6 PM in Beirut a fire and series of explosions at the docks in Beirut set off a gigantic explosion, the effects of which were felt as far away as Cyprus. Damage is widespread around the city and thousands are reported to have been wounded. The epicenter of the blast appears to have been the warehouse at 33.901353, 35.518835, and while the official explanation has yet to be confirmed, multiple sources on information point towards a shipment of 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate that had been sitting in the port since 2013.
(Excerpt) Read more at bellingcat.com ...
Left: Image claimed to show Ammonium Nitrate shipment at port of Beirut. Right: satellite image (courtesy of Google/Maxar Technologies) and still from video of fire.
Left: Drone image showing crater, Right: measurement of crater (courtesy of Google/Maxar.)
A good summary of what I am seeing on Twitter.
If the ammonium nitrate story turns out to be true, the utter incompetence of decision making in Beirut is only matched by the American people in electing BHO twice.
Just wow! Impressive hole in the ground
It boils down to what detonator with adequate explosive energy was used to set off relatively stable ammonium nitrate?
It is common for me to read a story about some minor tragedy and be amazed that that could even happen - only to find out it happened in some second or third world country.
It’s also common for me to read a story about someone’s free speech rights being obviously violated, and then I realize it happened in Canada or the UK, where they don’t honor the US constitution.
Nobody’s perfect, but we are relatively safe and free in the US at the individual level. It’s no Norman Rockwell painting, but still...
The building, or neighboring one, was already on fire.
Others pointed to a 2,750 ton shipment of ammonium nitrate that had been sitting at the Port since at least late 2013. Al Jazeera reported that, despite repeated requests for guidance by the customs authority, no decision were made regarding what to do with this shipment. Instead, it simply remained in a warehouse at the port.
This matched statements from the Lebanese President Michel Aoun, who blamed a shipment of 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate which had been sitting at the port for six years.
many questions.
many explosion sets and locations.
that does NOT look like grain in that silo.
The videos showed the smoke from the first blast and very numerous smaller explosions at the base of the fire, suggesting ammunition or fireworks were being detonated.
The the really big main explosion occurs, generating an ascending shock wave that condenses the water vapor in the air as it expands and demolishes the large apartment building near it.
It was incredible that anyone would store 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate anywhere in close proximity to anyone, much less a major city - normal safety precautions would have required dividing that explosive into smaller amounts and storing it in bunkers away from any people. (When I was in the Defense Nuclear Agency, we used 5,000 tons of ammonium nitrate to simulate a low-level nuclear event - but that was far out in the desert).
The real mystery is what else was involved in the first detonation and the smaller detonations that preceded to main blast - and why that much explosive material was stored so close to a city.
From Wiki....
“Explosive velocity, also known as detonation velocity or velocity of detonation (VoD), is the velocity at which the shock wave front travels through a detonated explosive. The data listed for a specific substance is usually a rough prediction based upon gas behavior theory[citation needed] (see Chapman-Jouguet condition), as in practice it is difficult to measure[citation needed]. Explosive velocities are always faster than the local speed of sound in the material”
Fire alone does not provide the explosive velocity to explode ammonium nitrate. I think fuel oil is added to increase the explosiveness.
I was amazed at the video and audio of the explosion and the shock wave, which I watched on a different FR post.
Anyone who scoffed at the claim that it might have been a tactical nuke will reconsider after seeing it.
The explosion is instantaneous and symmetrical.
The only way 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate could blow up like that is if the whole building was wired with electrical detonators.
Good thing it was located by the seaside. If this warehouse had been in the city center...
It, supposedly, was located next to a fireworks factory.
The video is pretty crazy to watch.
You see the pressure wave, then a couple seconds later hear the boom.
Ok..... first I’ve heard of the fireworks.
My first thought was that there was a grain dust detonation
incredible!
The picture of the men working and the other picture of that door in the warehouse are NOT the same place, there is no wall above the men nor is there a portico. Where the men are working is a long opening all the way to the roof. It seems to be the opposite side of where the picture of the warehouse was taken.
Those that do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
From wiki:
“The 1947 Texas City disaster was an industrial accident that occurred on April 16, 1947, in the Port of Texas City, Texas, at Galveston Bay. It was the deadliest industrial accident in U.S. history, and one of history’s largest non-nuclear explosions. A mid-morning fire started on board the French-registered vessel SS Grandcamp (docked in the port), and detonated her cargo of about 2,300 tons (about 2,086 metric tons) of ammonium nitrate.[1] This started a chain reaction of fires and explosions in other ships and nearby oil-storage facilities, ultimately killing at least 581 people, including all but one member of the Texas City fire department.[2]
The Grandcamp was a recently re-activated 437-foot-long (133 m) Liberty ship. Originally named the SS Benjamin R. Curtis in Los Angeles in 1942, the ship served in the Pacific theatre and was mothballed in Philadelphia after World War II. In a Cold War gesture, the ship was assigned by the United States to the French Line to assist in the rebuilding of France, along with other efforts in Europe. Along with the ammonium nitrate—a very common cargo on the high seas—it was carrying small arms ammunition, machinery, and bales of sisal twine on the deck. Another ship in the harbor, the SS High Flyer, was docked about 600 feet (200 m) away from the SS Grandcamp. The High Flyer contained an additional 961 short tons (872 metric tons) of ammonium nitrate[1] and 1,800 short tons (1,600 metric tons) of sulfur. The ammonium nitrate in the two ships and fertilizer in the adjacent warehouse was intended for export to farmers in Europe. The Grandcamp had arrived from Houston, where the port authority did not permit loading of ammonium nitrate.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_disaster
Ammonium nitrate caused a similar sized explosion in Tianjin China in 2015
I guess they no longer need to worry about what to do with it. They have that going for them.
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