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How Beirut was torn apart: Videos capture the moment that ceilings collapsed, families sheltered for cover, offices were destroyed and buildings were engulfed in flames during the explosion in Beirut
UK Daily Mail ^ | August 5, 2020 | Raven Saunt

Posted on 08/05/2020 8:31:01 AM PDT by C19fan

A series of videos captured the devastation in Beirut as an explosion tore through the Lebanese capital - killing at least 100 people dead and injuring more than 4,000.

Footage from across the blast site filmed the apocalyptic scenes yesterday which saw ceilings collapse, families shelter for cover, offices ripped apart and buildings engulfed in flames.

It is thought the explosion was triggered by more than 2,750 tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate - the main ingredient in fertilizer bombs.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: ammoniumnitrate; beirut; lebanon
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To: catnipman

How was the ammonium nitrate in Beirut manufactured?


41 posted on 08/05/2020 10:49:50 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: Onelifetogive

At least they didn’t kill 100 dead people.


42 posted on 08/05/2020 10:50:27 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: 762X51
This the pic?


43 posted on 08/05/2020 10:52:41 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: HereInTheHeartland

Deserves repeating that this explosion destroyed the country’s main grain storage complex..

That may turn into a bigger disaster than the explosion.


44 posted on 08/05/2020 10:57:02 AM PDT by jjotto (Blessed are You LORD, who crushes enemies and subdues the wicked.)
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To: C19fan

https://mobile.twitter.com/search?q=Uae&src=typed_query&f=live

And now there’s a big fire in UAE at a marketplace/industrial park. Also a large food warehouse in Najaf up in flames.

Lots of fire in the ME.


45 posted on 08/05/2020 10:59:54 AM PDT by SE Mom (Screaming Eagle mom)
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To: SE Mom

It seems Najaf fire is misreported- looks as if it’s just the UAE fire. Twitter just having a moment.


46 posted on 08/05/2020 11:05:03 AM PDT by SE Mom (Screaming Eagle mom)
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To: jjotto
Deserves repeating that this explosion destroyed the country’s main grain storage complex..

CBS morning news foreign news correspondent Charlie D'Agat said 85% of Lebanons stored grain was in the destroyed granaries. Lebanon has to import almost all their food. Link: https://youtu.be/8qjnywF39Jw @ about 2:42 mins.

47 posted on 08/05/2020 11:11:50 AM PDT by Covenantor (We are ruled...by liars who refuse them news, and by foo, thatls who cannot govern. " Chesterton)
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To: BenLurkin

“How was the ammonium nitrate in Beirut manufactured?”

that’s a good question, i.e., what if anything was mixed with it ...


48 posted on 08/05/2020 11:39:06 AM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: catnipman

I found this. Apparently it was called Nitriprill HD.

“The Nitroprill HD indicating high density is probably physically robust porous prill with a built-in resistance to breakdown due to temperature cycling and abrasion as indicated by western experts”

https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/beirut-blast-confiscated-ammonium-nitrate-from-ship-in-2014-could-have-sparked-explosion-that-killed-100-1708024-2020-08-05


49 posted on 08/05/2020 11:50:59 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: volunbeer
Don’t forget, the locust plague is still moving in that part of the world and it has wiped out much of the grain so there are many nations on the continent that have little to no reserve.

Let them drink their oil then. Problem solved.

50 posted on 08/05/2020 11:54:35 AM PDT by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: exnavy

Adding to the rampant speculation I was reading #Beirutexplosion on twit and found a Lebanese source that said the fire was touched off by a welder’s torch which grew into the blaze that set off the AN.


51 posted on 08/05/2020 12:21:41 PM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: Rebelbase

That was in the UK news article also.


52 posted on 08/05/2020 12:23:07 PM PDT by exnavy (american by birth and choice, I love this country!)
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To: jjotto

Falafel and Pita prices in Lebanon are going to skyrocket.


53 posted on 08/05/2020 12:24:32 PM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: BenLurkin

ANFO stinks. There is no way those guys would be standing around that much of it without cringing.


54 posted on 08/05/2020 12:26:29 PM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: BenLurkin

speculation is that Nitroprill HD is a knockoff of Orica’s Nitropril:

http://www.oricaminingservices.com/au/en/product/products_and_services/bulk_systems/nitropril/56

the technical data sheet for Nirtropril states:

Safety Features

Nitropril™ is a strong oxidizing substance, which will react with organic materials, reducing agents and metal powders. Whilst not combustible on its own, Nitropril™ supports combustion and increases the intensity of a fire.

Nitropril™ is not readily detonated in unconfined conditions, but will react with materials such as strong reducing agents and metal powders.

When heated to decomposition, Nitropril™ produces nitrous
oxide and white ammonium nitrate mist and or brown fumes.
Brown fumes indicate the presence of toxic oxides of nitrogen”

http://www.oricaminingservices.com/download/file_id_21273/


55 posted on 08/05/2020 1:00:28 PM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: fishtank; bagster; TEXOKIE; ransomnote
During WWII, my dad worked as a pipe fitter foreman, helping build most of the petrochem plants in Texas City.

In April of 1947, I was in the 4th grade in Webster, Texas -- and the shock wave from the Grandcamp explosion knocked art supplies off of our desks. While I was picking my stuff up, lots of kids ran to the windows, saw the mushroom cloud, and shouted, "An A-Bomb!"

I took one look at the orange cloud, (which looked like the fumes in the top of a nitric acid bottle) and, said, "Nope -- that's a chemical explosion. Probably at the Monsanto plant..."

Soon the smoke turned dark brown, then black -- so, it was obvious that some of the oil refineries and/or tank farms were involved.

The school shut down and bussed us all home -- to clear the narrow Old Galveston Highway for emergency traffic.

~~~~~~~~~~~

So -- as soon as I saw that reddish-orange smoke column in Beirut, photos, I knew, "Ammonium Nitrate!"

Texas City was a big one: 2.3 KT of AN -- and Beirut was bigger: 2.75 KT.

As you posted, much of the damage/death in TC was from shrapnel -- or whole slabs of 1" thick ship hull plating... Plus, the whole industrial end of town was one big firebomb -- waiting to blow... Worse, with the exception of one man who was on vacation, the Grandcamp blast wiped out all the firemen and equipment of the Texas City Fire Department...

TXnMA
  

56 posted on 08/05/2020 3:57:00 PM PDT by TXnMA (Anagram: "PANDEMIC --> DEM PANIC")
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To: C19fan
OP courtesy ping to #56...

TXnMA
  

57 posted on 08/05/2020 4:00:26 PM PDT by TXnMA (Anagram: "PANDEMIC --> DEM PANIC")
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To: BenLurkin
According to one early report, at least ten (10) Bierut FD men were missing...

FYI, as wrote in #56, all the equipment -- and all but one fireman in the Texas City fire department were wiped out in the 2.3 KT SS Grandcamp ammonium nitrate blast.

TXnMA
  

58 posted on 08/05/2020 4:15:32 PM PDT by TXnMA (Anagram: "PANDEMIC --> DEM PANIC")
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To: TXnMA

Thank you.


59 posted on 08/05/2020 4:19:46 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: TXnMA

The one in West, TX in 2013 had 240 tons of fertilizer....

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


60 posted on 08/05/2020 8:45:48 PM PDT by fishtank (The denial of original sin is the root of liberalism.)
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