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 ...
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.
brown-hmx smoke after the initial warheads went off,
and before the thermobaric shroom
Wow, looks like that crater is at least 200 feet across. That has to be over a 1 kiloton explosion.
“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.
I believe the freighter in Texas City in 1947 was carrying just ammonium nitrate when it caught fire and blew up.
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.
I would refer everyone to the Texas City explosion in 1947. Three ships loaded with AN caught on fire and exploded. It can happen.
“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
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.
[How stupid can they be? What nut job would store that much explosive in a population center?]
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).
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.
“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.
That’s almost a sixth of the power of the Hiroshima atomic bomb.
I’ve never seen an explosion that created such an unusual brown-black crown that appeared over Beirut. It needs explanation.
Thank you, that is awesome! Also my new wallpaper.
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!
You mean, like a drone-fired missile?
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.
“- 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.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.