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Ammonium nitrate: what is the chemical blamed for blast in Lebanese capital?
The likely cause of the huge blast in Beirut on Tuesday appears to have been the highly reactive chemical ammonium nitrate.
Lebanon's prime minister, Hassan Diab, said 2,700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded after lying unsecured in a warehouse for six years, tallying with reports that a ship carrying a similar quantity of the chemical had unloaded its cargo at the port in 2013. It remains unclear what caused the chemical to ignite.
AFP is quoting the governor of Beirut, Marwan Abboud, as saying the damage from the port blast has extended over half of the city, with the cost of damage likely above $3bn.
He has also upped his previous estimate of the number of "homeless" to 300,000, which is close to the total population of the central part of the capital. Again, we are not sure if he is talking about homelessness or people whose homes have been damaged.
As Death Toll Rises After Deadly Blast, a Search for Answers and Survivors: Live Updates
As Death Toll Rises After Deadly Blast, a Search for Answers and Survivors: Live Updates:
- Search is on for survivors after blast kills more than 100.
- Some 300,000 people have been displaced from their homes. But amid the devastation, stories of heroism.
- The science behind the blast: Why fertilizer packs a punch.
- Even as hospitals were destroyed and staffers killed, doctors and nurses raced to help.
- I was bloodied and dazed. Beirut strangers treated me like a friend.
- In maps: A two-mile radius around the blast was flattened.
- Beirut's landmark downtown is in shambles. Again.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @02:48PM
Which might explain the interview on the BBC this morning with an eyewitness who said something along the lines of that he heard a noise like a jet just before the place went up....
I should add, however, that just because the warehouse might have only been supposed to house ammonium nitrate, if it had been abandoned for the reported length of time, i'll guarantee you that other 'problematic' stuff had been dumped there as well..with no 'hostile' intent...(Not that I've ever come across shit like 20+kg of dried out picric acid that had lain forgotten for a decade or so...next to a store of assorted poisons and gallons of solvents, mostly carbon tet....and that wasn't the scariest chemical oubliette I've ever found.)