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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, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @03:39PM (5 children)
Can't we just cut taxes and take away their health insurance purrlease!? I'm weeping in my cornflakes.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Bot on Thursday August 06 2020, @09:07AM (4 children)
A sign of successful brainwash is when you use "health insurance" when you mean "health care".
As a raging anti-socialist I consider military, health care, survival food and shelter, to be impossible to privatize.
Socialists (of the red and black variety) should agree with the above, yet they support the thieves who profit off this stuff. How come?
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday August 06 2020, @09:08AM (2 children)
Lol i forgot justice among the impossible to privatize stuff.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2020, @12:23PM
Yet why has usa privatised all of these things.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2020, @03:58PM
> Lol i forgot justice among the impossible to privatize stuff.
And how do you feel about the Dept of Energy?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday August 06 2020, @02:29PM