Big Explosion in Beirut.

[pharmer]

The story in one paper said a Russian ship had mechanical trouble in 2014 and put into Beirut. The Russian owner abandoned the ship and cargo. The authorities loaded it into a warehouse for safekeeping for 6 years. KaBoom. They should have spread that stuff on their fields. Joe

 

[UncleEd]

Since it is the Mideast, the blast has to
be a plot.

A simple explanation of stupidity won't do.

 

[Telecaster]

The story in one paper said a Russian ship had mechanical trouble in 2014 and put into Beirut. The Russian owner abandoned the ship and cargo. The authorities loaded it into a warehouse for safekeeping for 6 years. KaBoom. They should have spread that stuff on their fields. Joe

Cargo is so worthless he just abandoned it? And no one touched it? Would the cargo's owner agree to pay rent on the storage space, for SIX YEARS? That makes no sense whatsoever. Or did he exchange the cargo for ship repair services? They put a lien on the repairs so he said to heck with it, take the cargo? But why hold it for six years, instead of selling it to pay your ship repair people?

 

[MRB1]

Weapons flow into there from Iran via Syria and probably the sea. I can't help but believe that the Sparklers R Us factory was a weapons storage place that just happened to be close to some nitrates. If that's the case, guess who decided to relive them of their stockpile.

 

[Gunslinger808]

I've never seen anfo burn red.
However certain rocket (not fireworks) propellants do.
What people say was fireworks going off before the blast also looks like ammo cooking off.

But hey, you know the Lebanese government doesn't do shady stuff for terrorist organizations, broker for Russia/Iran/insert your favorite bad guys.
Just my tin foil hat.

 

[Injunbro]

The story in one paper said a Russian ship had mechanical trouble in 2014 and put into Beirut. The Russian owner abandoned the ship and cargo. The authorities loaded it into a warehouse for safekeeping for 6 years. KaBoom. They should have spread that stuff on their fields. Joe

They may have had tons of Ammonium Nitrate (fertilizer) but no one stores or transports it mixed w/ diesel (ANFO).... unless they're up to something evil.

 

[timjake]

"Beirut's Gov. Marwan Abboud said Wednesday that some 300,000 people might not be able to return to their homes for two to three months as the rescue crews continue to sift through collapsed buildings and rubble for survivors..."

Beirut explosion leaves 300,000 homeless, Lebanese port officials under house arrest | Fox News

 

[timjake]

Before/after satellite imagery of the blast area:

Beirut blast devastation seen in new satellite images | Fox News

 

[TennTony]

I didn't see where anyone did the math so, 2750 metric tons is 6,062,705 pounds. That was a lot of ammonium nitrate.

 

[6518John]

You generally apply 100 pounds per acre in the spring, so that is enough to to fertilize almost 61,000 acres! That is a heck of a lot of fertilizer. Enough to blast you to the moon I bet.

 

[Ματθιας]

What was the tall concrete building? It was just shredded!

 

[bigwheelzip]

What was the tall concrete building? It was just shredded!

A grain storage elevator.

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[Ματθιας]

A grain storage elevator.

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Seriously?! I wonder if that was full or not.

 

[bigwheelzip]

Seriously?! I wonder if that was full or not.

Photos seem to indicate a mountain of grain leaked out and piled up around it.
A reporter I heard, called that grain storage facility an important national asset.

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[smoothshooter]

I thought for sure somebody would have posted here by now. The videos of this thing are incredible. Observers maybe a mile away are knocked over by the shock wave.

The story so far is, a fire in a fireworks factory git into an adjoining building where large quantities of explosive chemicals were stored. Somebody said nitrates. Raw materials for fireworks. Fertilizer?

Lots of casualties.

The For Public Disemination description of what blew is likely BS.

Nitrate fertilizer does not just blow up on it's own.
Several other things are required to cause that to happen.

My money says rocket fuel, munitions and other explosives intended for use as terror weapons were responsible.


Can't help but wonder if some our Israeli friends might have helped things along?

 

[riverrat38]

If I am reading correctly, Wikipedia says that AN has 42% of the power of TNT. That would equate to about a Kilo Ton of TNT, which is getting up into the Tactical Nuclear bomb range!

Best,
Rick

 

[Racer X]

I just came here to post that.

 

[bigwheelzip]

The For Public Disemination description of what blew is likely BS.



Nitrate fertilizer does not just blow up on it's own.

Several other things are required to cause that to happen.

Seems like "innocent" negligence accidents with this material are not uncommon.

In the last seven years, two fertilizer explosions have occured. In 2013, at the West Fertilizer Company in Texas, and in 2015, at the dangerous materials warehouse in the port of Tianjin China. The Chinese explosion destroyed an entire district of the city, mirroring the Beirut situation.



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[vigil617]

The death toll and number of injured keep rising from this enormous tragedy. Beyond those horrific numbers, though, are the number of Lebanese left homeless by the blast. One report I saw said "hundreds of thousands" among its estimated population of 1 million to 2 million as of 2007.

The country was already in a food crisis, and losing its port and those grain elevators is catastrophic.

 

[steelslaver]

The For Public Disemination description of what blew is likely BS.

Nitrate fertilizer does not just blow up on it's own.
Several other things are required to cause that to happen.

My money says rocket fuel, munitions and other explosives intended for use as terror weapons were responsible.


Can't help but wonder if some our Israeli friends might have helped things along?

Tell that to the people in Galveston Texas especially the ones that were around in 1947 when a French ship with 2,300 tons of it went up. 581 died.

Ammonium nitrate does not burn on its own.
Instead, it acts as a source of oxygen that can accelerate the combustion (burning) of other materials.

For combustion to occur, oxygen must be present. Ammonium nitrate prills provide a much more concentrated supply of oxygen than the air around us. This is why it is effective in mining explosives, where it's mixed with oil and other fuels.

But

At high enough temperatures, however, ammonium nitrate can violently decompose on its own. This process creates gases including nitrogen oxides and water vapor. It is this rapid release of gases that causes an explosion.

Ammonium nitrate decomposition can be set off if an explosion occurs where it's stored, if there is an intense fire nearby.

The initial problem was a fire nearby and that is why the ammonium nitrate went off. Plus, being stored in a poorly ventilated container in a place that has an average temperature of near 90 this time of year. Let is set and decompose then have a fire near it and you have a unplanned explosion, just like the one in Galveston Texas

Now, did someone know the fertilizer was there and set off the chain of events? Possible.