Posted on 08/08/2020 7:42:04 AM PDT by robowombat
Beirut port explosion mystery solved? UPDATES: 3 ships disappeared.
Mikhail Voytenko News August 5, 2020 3:28 pm
Aug 5 1515 UTC UPDATE: Cruise ship ORIENT QUEEN, berthed at Beirut near blast site, was seriously damaged, started taking on water, capsized and sank starboard along berth, remaining partially above waterline. 2 crew reportedly (but not yet confirmed) died.
Cruise ship ORIENT QUEEN, IMO 8701193, GT 7478, built 1989, flag Bahamas, operator Abou Merhi Cruises.
Aug 5 0730 UTC UPDATE: Three ships were berthed near explosion site, AIS of all these ships are off during last 14-16 hours, immediately or shortly after, the blast. General cargo ship MERO STAR, IMO 8321682, dwt 4110; general cargo ship RAOUF H, IMO 8325535, dwt 6343; Livestock carrier JOURI, IMO 9174775, GT 4033.
Aug 5 UPDATE: In Jul 2014, I’ve been asked by one of Russian national newspapers to investigate the story of general cargo ship RHOSUS, stranded in Beirut with cargo of ammonium nitrate, following the letter they received from the Captain of the ship. That’s what I found out:
General cargo vessel RHOSUS called Beirut, Lebanon, in October last year. Vessel loaded with ammonium nitrate was destined for another country, the reason she called Beirut is unclear, maybe for supplies or due to some mechanical trouble. RHOSUS was detained after PSC inspection, which found a number of deficiencies. Since then vessel is stranded in Beirut. By now only four crew stay on board – Master (Russian nationality), Chief and Third Engineers and Bosun, all of them Ukrainians. Vessel was owned and operated by Mr. Grechushkin Igor, Russian citizen now Cyprus resident (last known manager Teto Shipping, Cyprus). RHOSUS actually, is abandoned – owner doesn’t communicate, doesn’t pay salaries, doesn’t provide supplies. Owner of the cargo declared abandonment, too. Beirut authorities don’t permit the remaining crew to leave the vessel and fly to home. The reason is obvious, port authorities don’t want to be left with abandoned vessel on their hands, loaded with dangerous cargo, explosives, in fact. Why don’t they want to arrest vessel with cargo, to release the crew and replace it with temporary local crew, is unclear. https://www.fleetmon.com/maritime-news/2014/4194/crew-kept-hostages-floating-bomb-mv-rhosus-beirut/
Many believe that yesterday’s explosion in Beirut was caused by that ammonium nitrate cargo on board of RHOSUS. Probably. General cargo vessel Rhosus, IMO 8630344, dwt 3226, built 1986, flag Moldova.
A powerful explosion occurred in Beirut port area on Aug 4, killing and injuring dozens of people, and causing widespread damage. As of evening Aug 4, there’s no clarity with regards to the cause of explosion/explosions, and what triggered it. Russian witness insists he saw the ship on fire prior to blast, he managed to record fire and explosions on his mobile phone.
That sounds as good as any guess.
As I understand the current reports as of yesterday, the scenario you mentioned has not been officially pronounced by the Lebanese government.
My gut tells me it is partially true.
The fireworks were Hezbollah weapons and the government is reticent to make that specific of an announcement even though widely speculated.
It is a farm fertilizer. When mixed with Diesel fuel it becomes a nitrate OXIDIZER for the explosive DIESEL.
It also makes a handy oxidizer in making rocket fuel.
Mix it with sugar and heat it to cook it to a syrup and pour it in a pipe and when it cools and solidifies you have rocket fuel.
But what you can clearly see is the explosion becomes a detonation. Ammonium nitrate can not detonate unless it is mixed with a fuel, no fuel no detonation.
It was obviously a Hezbollah ammo dump. Being that Lebanon has a long history of rocket attacks on Israel the “news media” is in hyper cover up mode.
Yes, but don’t confuse a conspiracy theory with facts.
The theory by the OP is that the RHOSUS caught fire and acted as the detonator for the warehouse.
Russian rocket fuel component black ops delivery to Hezbolah munitions factory..
Psalm 38:8
Surprise them with disaster! Trap them in their own nets and let them fall and rot in the pits they have dug.
Psalms 57:6
They have prepared a net for my steps. My soul is bowed down. They dig a pit before me. They fall into its midst themselves.
Melted ammonium nitrate is subject to rapid thermal decomposition, which results in production of ammonia rich gasses, and nitrous oxides. Ammonia is combustible, and the nitrogen compounds supply oxygen. Molten AN is unstable to physical shock induced decomposition. No added fuel is needed to support a thermal decomposition seeded detonation wave.
Ammonium Nitrate is merely an oxidizer, not volatile alone. I wonder what the volatile materials were to produce such an explosion?
Ditto with the Texas City explosion where first there was a fire then the explosion.
The dates (in this story) seem mixed between today (August 2020 when the explosion occurred from explosive mixtures stored in the warehouse) and July 2014) when the ship was confiscated.
Clearly, the ship was registered and the cargo purchased and shipped by a Russian-Ukrainian criminal group (possibly supported by Putin’s, while Obama-Biden-Clinton-Kerry were in charge of national security!) trying to get the nitrate to a terrorist group in (????) via Syria-Lebanon.
....agree...! for what it is worth, and it many not be worth much as far as it goes, another web site is implying that Israel is behind this...took out a Hisbullah weapons warehouse and all that.... also, how did that mushroom cloud form...? looked kinda nuclear...?? again, just sayin’.....
Since the port got that owie, and Lebanon is a pseudostate controlled by a criminal gang established in power by Iran, we'll probably not find out about the similar odd cargos which were parked there precisely because they'd never be found out.
Switching to a voiceover format along with removal of dead air would’ve rendered this video exceedingly more watchable in 2/3 the time.
All burning is thermal decomposition or exothermic recomposition.
A teaspoon of gasoline burns like a tiki torch.
A teaspoon of gasoline poured into a trashcan explodes with a whomp that will take off your eyebrows.
A teaspoon of gasoline vaporized and mixed with air at 14 parts air to 1 part gasoline detonates equal in force to 2 sticks of dynamite.
BURN, EXPLODE, DETONATE.
Three very different things.
Nitrate is an oxidizer that uses nitrogen not oxygen.
Two similar things that are different.
Differences make a difference and help with BDA. (Bomb Damage Assessment)
My read on this one is Achmed blowed up real good.
Cannot blame Trump on this one, at least so far.
“Many believe that yesterday’s explosion in Beirut was caused by that ammonium nitrate cargo on board of RHOSUS.”
Could be.....but ammonium nitrate has been stored in large quantities (Approximately 2750 tons) in that warehouse since 2013. Right next to fireworks probably was not a good plan as it takes a small ignition force to blow. One little fire, and boom! And in this case...boom......and then much bigger boom.
https://time.com/5875922/fireworks-ammonium-nitrate-likely-fueled-beirut-explosion/
rwood
NH4NO3 doesn’t become unstable. In fact, to make it, you have to provide serious consideration to the fact that manufacturing it produces prodigious amounts of heat.
To make that bond break, you have to ADD THERMAL ENERGY to get it to go.
It’s an oxidizer, which means you generally need to add something to it (Aluminum or Iron filings), and an initial charge to make it go.
When it DOES go, it doesn’t produce a deep red fireball like it did.
Now, rocket propellant, does. There was a blast in the 80s in Nevada that involved rocket fuel that had the same characteristics, right down to the speed of the shockwave.
AMFO (Ammonium Nitrate mixed with Fuel Oil), is relatively slow to combust compared to other explosives. This blast had a shockwave that was moving.
I was the senior officer on a big city Hazmat team for several years before I retired. Unfortunately, trying to explain the ins and outs of this situation to a bunch of armchair explosive experts is a futile use of your time.
But thank you for your effort anyway.
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