Posted on 03/07/2021 9:37:04 AM PST by janetjanet998
BREAKING: Massive explosion in Bata, Equatorial Guinea; health ministry says "hundreds" injured
FWIW, from the video I’ve seen it didn’t look like ammo cooking off. It looked like at least one, maybe two massive explosions. The area looks like it’s been leveled.
ANFO storage...?
Looks a lot like that blast from Beirut...
Two blast clouds
I once visited an ammunition storage area on a military base in Equatorial Guinea. My company had explosives stored there and the Government wanted us to build a new magazine for both our stuff and their stuff. I’ll only say it was a very scary place indeed. Lots of old artillery shells and explosives in piles and boxes of stuff with fluids leaking out of them. I got out of there just as quick as I could. We didn’t build the magazine. This doesn’t surprise me at all.
Africa is sinking into Philadelphia and Baltimore and Atlanta and has completely sunk in DC
Extended aftermath footage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCoznm3iB8k
What is Equatorial Guinea?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeQ5BEOtz04
You might be right. I only suggested it because there have been numerous documented explosions in military magazines, warehouses, and other storage facilities of deteriorated powders in drums, propellant bags, and even inside shells.
Explosives are by their very nature potent “fuels” and “oxidizers”. Anytime you have those two in combination there is always a possibility that a catalyst of some sort (humidity) can start a chemical reaction that we understand as “composting”. This can cause self-heating and the reaction picks up speed/energy.
Bulk powders typically have a preservative. That preservative functions to prevent a chemical reaction, but it only last so long and often the longevity of it is based on other factors such as humidity, temperature, and even compression (i.e. - stacked on one another creating pressure).
This is why the US military has strict storage requirements in magazines for bulk powders or propellant bags. You always calculate the net explosives weight and try to minimize exposure of nearby magazines or materials to avoid a larger explosion with more materials involved. There is a maintenance program that is pretty strict that monitors temperature and test for deterioration of the preservative (color change is often a good indicator).
This practice is almost non-existent in the third world where you often have lower quality energetic materials, improper storage, less separation of materials, and poor housekeeping. On top of that, many of these nations use or stockpile lower quality munitions and materials. Any shooter knows that Egyptian or Eastern Bloc ammo is often very dirty and hard on a firearm. This is true even for the “non-corrosive” stuff. However, many people do not know that the artillery powders produced (mostly during the cold war) often used corrosive powders.
Western military powers discard these materials after the shelf-life expires. Third world nations rarely get rid of it.
It is a known and acknowledged problem. Any time you have large quantities of fuels or oxidizers you have a potential for a chemical reaction to begin with very bad results.
Again, I am not saying that is what happened here, but it does provide a plausible explanation if this facility had a large amount of stored materials. It can also explain “multiple explosions” as fire or energy from one impinges on other storage spaces. Dust explosions often occur in a similar fashion where the first event kicks up more dust into the air for a subsequent explosion and the cycle continues until it runs out of fuel (flour, sugar, sawdust, etc are common examples).
Even some oxidizers such as ammonium nitrate (West Texas, numerous ships with it, and possibly Beirut) can self-detonate in response to a fire or other catalyst to possibly include self-heating or composting in the presence of a contaminant.
This is not usually a big problem in the US because we have safety practices, regulations, and other required safeguards to prevent it. They are hard-learned lessons.
Those are non-existent in the third world. My only point was that there may be a non-criminal cause (accidental fire, accidental sparking, or spontaneous heating) to explain this given that it was allegedly an ammo dump.
Wasn’t there a novel written some decades past with Equatorial Guinea the subject and mercenaries the players?
Michelle looks like an idiot in that dress. Seems tacky for an official visit by foreign dignitaries.
Wasn’t that par for the course? The times when on occasion she didn’t look ridiculous were the exception.
I can't recall how much money I had on me but I wish I had given her some money...$50 dollars would have represented about six months income. But I didn't...because I was so shocked by what I was seeing and the guide only stopped for about 30 seconds to talk to the woman.
As ugly as starvation looks in a photo it looks 100 times worse when you're about 5 feet from it.
Just sayin'...
Yes, Beijing. China likes dictatorships, and pays dictators very well. They also market their latest surveillance equipment to keep their bought men in power. China spends a lot of money in Equitorial Guinea and aims to keep their investment safe.
I had a coworker in that position once, he was about to give a kid in Niger some money because he looked very hungry. His guide pointed out that any money he gave the kid would probably be stolen and convinced him to keep it to small change, less than a dollar. Help the kid, but not make him a target for theft or murder.
Thanks for sharing this. Interesting perspective from a traveler in country.
Nothing says international gravitas like wearing a bright shower curtain to a diplomatic visit.
Oh Gawd. Mooch looks bigger than a man.
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