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Beirut explosion rocks Lebanon's capital city
CNN ^ | By Tara John, Melissa Macaya, Mike Hayes, Veronica Rocha, Meg Wagner, Joshua Berlinger, Adam Renton

Posted on 08/05/2020 5:58:46 AM PDT by Red Badger

What you need to know:

At least 100 people were killed and 4,000 wounded in a massive explosion that shook Beirut on Tuesday, state-run media reported, citing the Red Cross.

Hundreds have been reported missing in the aftermath of the blast raising fears that the death toll will rise, Lebanon's Health Minister said Wednesday.

It's still unclear what exactly caused the explosion. Lebanon's Prime Minister said an investigation would focus on an estimated 2,750 metric tons of the explosive ammonium nitrate, stored at a warehouse.

Beirut's governor said the blast caused up to $5 billion worth of damage.

============================================================================

Lebanese customs head says he sent six memos warning of dangerous substances stored at Beirut’s port

From CNN's Nada AlTaher

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS: ammoniumnitrate; beirut; lebanon
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To: Red Badger

I’ve also heard Sodium Nitrate.
That can’t be as it would need a fuel to go with it.
Ammonium nitrate has fuel and oxidizer in the same package.
Ammonium nitrate makes more sense.


21 posted on 08/05/2020 6:28:50 AM PDT by BuffaloJack (Only you can prevent communism.)
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To: ScholarWarrior

brown-hmx smoke after the initial warheads went off,
and before the thermobaric shroom


22 posted on 08/05/2020 6:29:16 AM PDT by Diogenesis ("when a crime is unpunished, the world is unbalanced")
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To: Red Badger

Wow, looks like that crater is at least 200 feet across. That has to be over a 1 kiloton explosion.


23 posted on 08/05/2020 6:32:38 AM PDT by The Pack Knight
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To: Blueflag

“Peesuming that was AN, it was a LOT of AN, detonated.”

2740 TONS is a lot of AM. That is how much was in the warehouse/ There was a fireworks factory beside the warehouse that caught fire.


24 posted on 08/05/2020 6:33:28 AM PDT by Fai Mao (There is no justice until The PIAPS is legally executed)
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To: ClearCase_guy

I believe the freighter in Texas City in 1947 was carrying just ammonium nitrate when it caught fire and blew up.


25 posted on 08/05/2020 6:34:16 AM PDT by bravo whiskey (Never bring a liberal gun law to a gun fight.)
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To: Highest Authority

What nut job would store that much explosive in a population center?


What I saw reported on YouTube this morning was the it was being smuggled into the country and the government confiscated it. It then got tied up in their court system and the authorities were forbidden to move it.

They (the government) knew the potential dangers but someone with a lot of power prevented moving it.

Sort of sounds like our courts.


26 posted on 08/05/2020 6:34:41 AM PDT by CIB-173RDABN (I am not an expert in anything, and my opinion is just that, an opinion. I may be wrong.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

I would refer everyone to the Texas City explosion in 1947. Three ships loaded with AN caught on fire and exploded. It can happen.


27 posted on 08/05/2020 6:34:42 AM PDT by technically right
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To: The Pack Knight

“Wow, looks like that crater is at least 200 feet across. That has to be over a 1 kiloton explosion.”

According to an article yesterday
3.3 KT


28 posted on 08/05/2020 6:34:47 AM PDT by Fai Mao (There is no justice until The PIAPS is legally executed)
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To: Red Badger

Skeptical Torquemada is skeptical. A warehouse full of Iranian missiles to be used by Hezbollah is much more plausible - as is the speculation of a black ops strike to destroy it. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3864506/posts If Israel identified 28 Hezbollah missile launch sites in Lebanon, and a warehouse full of powerful munitions to arm those sites, they would be insane not to conduct a first strike.


29 posted on 08/05/2020 6:38:08 AM PDT by torqemada (Your are known by the company you keep. Be careful who you follow.)
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To: Highest Authority

[How stupid can they be? What nut job would store that much explosive in a population center?]


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_disaster

Very few laypeople make the connection between fertilizer and explosives. And that’s likely what was at work here. (The Haber process, which revolutionized the production of fertilizer, also had this effect on the production of explosives).

The US, despite (1) a globe-spanning war that saw widespread use of all kinds of volatile chemicals, (2) a massive governmental apparatus that sprang up to fight that war and (3) a general reputation for competence, failed to foresee the Texas disaster. There was no hope that Lebanon, with its mishmash of literally warring tribes, ethnicities and religions, could have foreseen this. Everyone’s too consumed in the day-to-day business of trying not to be stomped by the various protection rackets at work there for anyone to be thinking about the big picture (i.e. things like chemicals, the appropriate storage facilities and environment and a routine inspection regime).


30 posted on 08/05/2020 6:41:09 AM PDT by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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To: Red Badger

31 posted on 08/05/2020 6:45:24 AM PDT by Yo-Yo ( is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: ClearCase_guy

You’re mistaken about AN being hard to set off. All it needs is to get hot enough. Check out the Texas City Disaster.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_disaster

In 1947 a French ship loaded with 2300 tons of AN caught fire and then exploded in Texas City, TX (think Galveston). This then set off another ship with almost 1000 tons of AN.

Almost 600 people were known killed with possibly hundreds more unaccounted for. Two sightseeing planes were blown out of the sky.

One of the ship’s 2 ton anchor was thrown over 1.6 miles away.

Again, AN does not need a ‘detonator’. Just get it hot enough.


32 posted on 08/05/2020 6:46:54 AM PDT by chaosagent (Remember, no matter how you slice it, forbidden fruit still tastes the sweetest!)
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To: Red Badger

“Something had to trigger it”

Wikipedia indicates the tons of ammonium nitrate must have been a mixture which was intentionally created to make it an explosive.

So yes, I think the explosive mixture needed a detonator to make them explode, so there was a trigger other than a simple flame.

The ammonium nitrate mixtures are good commercial explosives partly because they are safe unless used with a detonator.


33 posted on 08/05/2020 6:51:20 AM PDT by cymbeline
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To: Fai Mao

That’s almost a sixth of the power of the Hiroshima atomic bomb.


34 posted on 08/05/2020 6:54:15 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: ClearCase_guy

I’ve never seen an explosion that created such an unusual brown-black crown that appeared over Beirut. It needs explanation.


35 posted on 08/05/2020 6:56:03 AM PDT by Bookshelf
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To: Red Badger

Thank you, that is awesome! Also my new wallpaper.


36 posted on 08/05/2020 6:57:13 AM PDT by PLMerite ("They say that we were Cold Warriors. Yes, and a bloody good show, too." - Robert Conquest)
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To: Red Badger

The small shack that is in the shadow of the concrete superstructure and behind the smoldering crater would have been a good place to be!


37 posted on 08/05/2020 7:03:38 AM PDT by outofsalt (If history teaches us anything, it's that history rarely teaches anything.)
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To: Red Badger
Something had to trigger it.

You mean, like a drone-fired missile?

38 posted on 08/05/2020 7:04:59 AM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER (Celebrate "Republicans Freed the Slaves Month".)
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To: Bookshelf

Octagen, also known as HMX is used for missile warheads and as a solid rocket propellant. I saw somewhere on the internet (so it must be true!) that HMX produces a cloud of this color.


39 posted on 08/05/2020 7:06:53 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (If White Privilege is real, why did Elizabeth Warren lie about being an Indian?)
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To: G Larry

“- You don’t store it all in one vulnerable location! “

The Middle East is Chaos and Corruption writ large on the land. What passes for management at the Beirut docks could have thought that storing 2750 tonnes of AN there was perfectly alright.

What’s probably most remarkable is that it took this long for the stuff to cook off.


40 posted on 08/05/2020 7:09:44 AM PDT by PLMerite ("They say that we were Cold Warriors. Yes, and a bloody good show, too." - Robert Conquest)
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