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.
Related Stories
Chants of 'revolution' in Beirut as France's Macron is mobbed by angry crowds
Large crowds mobbed French President Emmanuel Macron in Beirut as he toured a neighborhood of the Lebanese capital devastated by Tuesday's massive explosion.
"Revolution, revolution!" people chanted, as shock at the devastation in the city gave way to anger on Thursday. New information reveals that Beirut officials had ignored repeated warnings about a stockpile of dangerous chemicals linked to the blast that has killed 137 people and injured 5,000.
Macron told a crowd of reporters and angry people that he would propose a "new political pact" to Lebanon's embattled political class during his visit to a predominantly Christian quarter of the city.
"The people want the fall of the regime," the protesters shouted, echoing calls for the downfall of Lebanon's long-time political elite that were popularized during a nationwide uprising late last year. "Michel Aoun is a terrorist! Help us," one man pleaded, referring to the Lebanese president. One woman screamed inaudible words inches away from Macron's face. "They are terrorists," came the repeated cries.
Most people were masked, including the French president, who removed his face covering to speak to the press. There was no social distancing.
Previously: Beirut Explosion Kills Over 100, Linked to 2,700 Tons of Ammonium Nitrate in Port Warehouse
(Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday August 05 2020, @12:12PM (5 children)
Some footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93tV6-0Ugwk [youtube.com]
Compare to the Halifax Explosion [wikipedia.org] in 1917 (est. 2.9 kilotons) or the Tianjin explosions [wikipedia.org] in 2015 (800 tons of ammonium nitrate, 336 tons TNT equivalent).
Think ‘Halifax’ Not ‘Hiroshima’ For Beirut Explosion [forbes.com] (archive [archive.org])
Tianjin, about 1/3 the energy?
Tianjin Explosion Video & Photo Compilation Stabilized HD 12 04 2015 China [youtube.com]
Closest angle of Tianjin explosion so far, dying recorder mumbling in the background [youtube.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @01:28PM
(Score: 2) by digitalaudiorock on Wednesday August 05 2020, @05:20PM
Another one...this was slightly less (2,300 tons):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_disaster [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 1) by hemocyanin on Friday August 07 2020, @02:14AM (1 child)
A very interesting video I haven't seen on youtube, is here: https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1290756882932670470/pu/vid/320x400/kOMhQoDjTanW1kUg.mp4?tag=10 [twimg.com]
The way the roof peels away in the initial concussion made me think it was CGI but that was before reading about how big the blast really was.
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Friday August 07 2020, @07:25AM
I think the effect is even more noticeable in this one:
https://streamable.com/zg9oal [streamable.com]
This event might influence how Hollywood/TV does explosions. Less fireball, more blast wave.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by driverless on Friday August 07 2020, @05:22AM
The two big ones for ammonium nitrate were Oppau in 1921 and Texas City in 1947. The Oppau one was caused by using explosive charges to break up a large mass of ammonium nitrate, at the time little was known about its propensity to detonate when contaminated. The Texas City one was different, they tried to use steam to smother an existing fire. At the time little was known about the complex endothermic/exothermic reaction balance when it burned.
At the latest by about 1950 it should have been known that you don't store bulk amounts of this stuff anywhere where there are lots of people... shit, it's even a case study in a 1970s fire service textbook.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Wednesday August 05 2020, @12:16PM (16 children)
2001 "AZT" disaster in Toulouse, France [wikipedia.org], also linked to a large mass of ammonium nitrate that was - apparently - mixed with stuff it shouldn't have been mixed with.
"Only" 300 tons though...
(Score: 5, Informative) by looorg on Wednesday August 05 2020, @12:25PM (15 children)
The Oklahoma city bomb that McVeigh built was only about 2200kg (or 2.2 metric tons) which was more then enough to devastate the building. Here you have 1250x the amount.
(Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Wednesday August 05 2020, @02:47PM (11 children)
I have a hunch that you get more bang per ton if you specifically set stuff up to maximize the explosion - as oppose to a loose pile of powder that goes off by accident.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Wednesday August 05 2020, @02:53PM (5 children)
Naturally, which is why I said he made a bomb. That said I'm not sure if it has been noted yet in what form it was stored. It could have just been in a big pile I guess but more likely perhaps is that it was in those thick paper sacks or metal/plastic drums. I'm not sure a pile just one the ground would be around for the amount of time involved. When it exploded tho it clearly went in all directions so it wasn't properly shaped or directed.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday August 05 2020, @04:57PM
The picture of a welder in the Beirut warehouse has 2000 pound cloth totes in the background. Sometimes, those totes are made of cotton, canvas, or duck, other times, they are made of a ripstop nylon fabric. I've never handled the stuff in bulk but I've handed other materials in those totes. Sometimes, but not always, these totes are set on to pallets. If moisture is a concern, pallets are used, otherwise the totes are set directly onto the floor.
OK, I scrolled back up to the link supplied by looorg above. Apparently, they've "updated" that link, without the photo that I'm referring to.
TBH, however, the photo did not specifically say that the explosive material was stored in those totes visible in the background.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday August 05 2020, @05:04PM
This is the photo I was looking for - https://twitter.com/AhA47024592/status/1290984736190537729 [twitter.com]
You can see the totes stacked two high behind the workers in the left photo. Contents label says NITROPRILL HD, white block letters on red.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 4, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday August 05 2020, @05:20PM (2 children)
More and better details here - https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/08/beirut-blast-wrap-up.html?cid=6a00d8341c640e53ef0264e2eca7f4200d [moonofalabama.org]
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 2) by corey on Thursday August 06 2020, @04:16AM (1 child)
Talking about Orica, they have a store of 4x the Beirut amount near residents in Newcastle, NSW:
https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-05/beirut-blast-raises-concern-about-newcastle-ammonium-nitrate/12527546 [abc.net.au]
I've been there a dozen times, it's not that close to residents but I'd want it gone too, after what just happened...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Thursday August 06 2020, @11:36AM
As a maintenance man, I have a smartass saying for people when I finish a job. "It'll work until it doesn't." Well, Orica's plant will be perfectly safe, until it isn't. Beirut was safe, until it wasn't.
Stuff happens!!
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday August 05 2020, @03:09PM (4 children)
OTOH, maybe the 2.7 kilotons of ammonium nitrate wasn't the only explosive material in that warehouse, which could support higher estimates that have been mentioned, like 2.2 kilotons [ctvnews.ca] or 3 kilotons of TNT.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2020, @08:47AM (3 children)
Not an expert, but compared with the footage from china, the beirut explosion seems far more dynamic. I've seen in smaller scale that kind of explosions with military grade explosive. If you are used to fireworks pops and hear a military explosive going off you notice the latter is more dynamic, no matter the intensity.
Storing explosive near fireworks seems a particularly stupid idea in terms of security, OTOH if you need to hide the explosive, it's a pretty good place.
Storing fireworks in a urban area seems a particularly stupid idea in terms of security, OTOH if you intend to use the civilians as human shields against a missile strike it's a pretty good place (this consideration brought to you by the sociopathic branch of my AI, took years to consider meatbags capable of this shit but it helps a lot in rationalizing stuff)
Finally, given the political and international situation in Lebanon there is a nice list of malicious candidates other than the incompetence route. Arab spring continues? Manufactured crisis by the incumbent? Israeli op? Some other neighbour state op?
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday August 06 2020, @08:51AM (1 child)
oops login failed, parent post was me.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday August 06 2020, @12:22PM
Tianjin and Beirut are looking extremely similar in at least one way. There was a smaller but still large explosion about 30 seconds prior to the gigantic explosion.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by driverless on Friday August 07 2020, @05:28AM
Oh God, it's only been a few hours and already the conspiracy theories are springing up. "It doesn't look right to me so it was obviously Iran/ISIS/Syria/Russia/BLM/the Democrats". Yup, of the hundreds of 2,700 ton ammonium nitrate explosions I've personally witnessed, this one definitely doesn't look right so it has to be something else.
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Wednesday August 05 2020, @05:42PM (2 children)
even a 2200 kg shaped charge of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil isn't powerful enough to shatter reinforced concrete columns at 50 yards.
ANFO is a low velocity explosive that does not have a lot of "shattering" power even when place directly on an object.
I would suggest you watch "A Noble Lie" [imdb.com] for more information.
Notable fact is that in August 2001 a State level commission examining the bombing found that many verified facts did not support the original Federal report's conclusions and called for a new independent reexamination of the event.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2020, @03:46PM (1 child)
According to my understanding, ammoniom nitrate is a high explosive because it decomposes rather than reacts. The detonation spreads through the exposive material at the speed of the shock front (>speed of sound) whereas low explosives involve a chemical reaction where the components need to physically migrate to react (speed of sound).
Not sure what the point of the FO is in ANFO. Perhaps just to get the party started?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday August 07 2020, @02:37PM
(Score: 4, Informative) by looorg on Wednesday August 05 2020, @12:19PM (43 children)
So they just decide to store about 2750 tons of ammonium-nitrate in an unsecure warehouse in the harbor in the middle of the capital, surrounded my building complexes, for about six or seven years. Ample time to get rid of it or transport it away.
Who thought that was a good idea, or are they just running a "secret" bombfactory for Hezbollah? I guess this is the difference between the first world and the not-first world when it comes to regulations.
Last I saw there was apparently repair work with welding going on in the area which could be the source of ignition.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday August 05 2020, @12:29PM (5 children)
You didn't save that link, did you? That sounds about right, really. Needed repair work going on, but no one bothered to explain to anyone involved that they were standing on top of one of the biggest bombs in the world. A 2000 ton bomb is a helluva bomb!
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 3, Informative) by looorg on Wednesday August 05 2020, @12:37PM (4 children)
https://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKCN25107J [reuters.com]
It should have propagated out to all the news sources by now. It may be the source and it could I guess also have been something else, but it sounds plausible.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday August 05 2020, @12:59PM
The blast he refers to killed and injured people I knew.
And, it's a bit sobering to realize that there are people there who have lived through all of the violence we've written down into our recent history books. They can't pack up and go home like I did, or the Marines did in '83. They live there, and the shit just keeps happening to them.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @02:08PM
"Officials did not say..."
How about that big fire right next the building? Maybe that had something to do with it?
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @03:53PM (1 child)
Authorities still looking for the welder have established a search pattern off the coast of Cyprus.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday August 05 2020, @08:27PM
think you mis-typed: "Authorities are looking for the pattern he made."
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Wednesday August 05 2020, @12:37PM (1 child)
> I guess this is the difference between the first world and the not-first world
Also the difference between recent warzone and not-recent warzone (thanks go to you, Israel, Hezbollah, Amal and Syria).
(Score: 3, Informative) by looorg on Wednesday August 05 2020, @12:45PM
It doesn't help for sure. But it still doesn't really excuse that you store that amount in an unsecure location for that amount of time. It was 30 years since the civil war ended, 15 years since the Syrians left. The last time Israel was that far up into Lebanon was 2006.
But it's interesting to note that in the 60's and 70's, before the civil war, Beirut was considered to be a fantastic place by middle east standards.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by FatPhil on Wednesday August 05 2020, @12:45PM (28 children)
The western world has given use situations such as attempts to dislodge clumped ammonium nitrate with gunpowder, because the pickaxes weren't working well enough.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Disagree) by khallow on Wednesday August 05 2020, @01:32PM (21 children)
How about the part where we're not pretending? 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate allegedly left sitting in a warehouse for six years? Sorry, this doesn't happen in the western world. And something else was in that warehouse. I thought at first it was fireworks (from the videos which show flashes of light and fellow viewer commentary), which it might still be, but the fire wasn't started by burning ammonium nitrate (cloud wasn't a rust red color indicating lack of nitrogen in the fire).
When? Looking at Wikipedia, the last attempt to dislodge large amounts of ammonium nitrate with explosives happened in 1942. Why are we comparing contemporary failings of Beirut's port management with accidents that last happened (at significant magnitude) almost 80 years ago? Nobody claims that western countries had extremely good workplace safety going back to the dawn of time. And during the Second World War, a lot of short cuts happened and a lot of people died.
(Score: 2) by Aegis on Wednesday August 05 2020, @02:30PM (2 children)
Here's one from 2013:
West Fertilizer Company explosion [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday August 05 2020, @11:46PM
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday August 06 2020, @02:32AM
(Score: 2) by Aegis on Wednesday August 05 2020, @02:40PM (1 child)
Iowa in 1994:
TERRA CHEMICAL ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION REPORT [epa.gov]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday August 06 2020, @02:35AM
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday August 05 2020, @02:59PM (5 children)
Yes, we really do things that stupid. The only thing that keeps it from happening often, are busybodies and inspections. Complacency creeps in, no matter what part of the world you live in.
What strikes me about this is, within just a few short hours, everyone knew what caused it. Obviously, there was full documentation, and people in authority knew about it. They probably talked about it in their offices. "What are we going to DO with all that explosive? It would be nice to recover that warehouse space, if nothing else."
What I find hard to believe, is that anyone who knew what was stored inside, would allow for welding to take place within the same building. The repairmen may or may not have been informed, but SOMEONE in at least a low position of authority should have been weirded out at the thought.
I'm trying to picture a Navy ship, and the captain approving of welding operations in, or even near, the powder magazines. Ugghh!
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @03:36PM (3 children)
"Complacency" could be one reason. Gutting regulations could be another. FREEEEDOM! to dump chemicals.
(Score: 1, Redundant) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday August 05 2020, @03:44PM (2 children)
We'll never get the freeeedom necessary to dump your toxic ass though.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @08:36PM (1 child)
Awww, poor runaway upset that someone is calling out his hypocritical conservative viewpoints? Aww awwww, so sad.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @09:19PM
Poor Runaway is poor at detecting criticism or sarcasm. So sad. But America has all the best Ammonium Nitrate accidental detonations! We are Number One in Corona Virus! And we have the greatest stupidity in the world, some say the greatest stupidity ever! Trooly, we are Making America Grate Against!
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Friday August 07 2020, @10:14PM
More likely just luck. The same sort of luck that keeps a wreck of a car running long after it should have been junked (I speak from experience here). Kind of like waiting for a molecule that is already past its half life to decay.
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Wednesday August 05 2020, @05:40PM
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday August 06 2020, @11:59AM (8 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday August 06 2020, @02:26PM (7 children)
Let us note that no one has yet to mention a recent developed world accident involving ammonium nitrate in a densely populated area or an egregious safety issue like leaving enormous amounts of ammonium nitrate sitting in a warehouse for six years. That's because there is no such accident in the developed world. There's no pretending here. But there is plenty of equating present day unsafe activity with 80 year old unsafe activity.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2020, @03:53PM (1 child)
Why are you so hung up on this "developed world" supremacy? You think we're not dipshits too? You think we are immune to endemic corruption by the power of our Christian beliefs? Come on, talk to me.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday August 06 2020, @09:31PM
Because someone keeps insisting it's not there. Citing Superfund sites that are more than 40 years old illustrates this problem in spades. You are saying here that Lebanon is more than 40 years behind the US in how it approaches serious environmental and public safety threats.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday August 07 2020, @07:15AM (4 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday August 07 2020, @02:31PM (3 children)
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday August 10 2020, @02:40PM (2 children)
Feel free to keep digging - we've got the anfo to dig you out.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday August 10 2020, @11:01PM (1 child)
So what words were you referring to?
So what contributions am I acting as if I didn't notice or understand?
What I think particularly ironic about this whole thread is that almost the entire world is rushing towards the western approach to economics and law. That's a demonstration of what approach is genuinely superior. Then when someone points out the stupidity of leaving a massive amount of explosive material in the middle of a city, we get such rejoinders as the US has Superfund, the western world had a pretty dumbass approach to ammonium nitrate many decades ago, or harbors can't technically be in the exact middle of a city.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday August 12 2020, @04:50AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Wednesday August 05 2020, @01:34PM (5 children)
Many? Can you give many examples please?
The Halifax explosion during WW1 was bad, and there have been one or two other cases in that league, but hardly "many". It is not a case of being superior, but factual, and the fact is that some non-First World nations need to look at their safety regulaltions. I once worked on large industrial plant (in the First World) with a significant potential public safety hazard, and I can assure you we would have been looking very closely at this event, and any reports that came out of it, to see what lessons could be learned. There would be no "superiority" or complacency about it. I was senior enough that I would have ensured it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @02:46PM
Well, one must tally the “many” equivalent “third world” events as well, then.
So... you know... we’re waiting.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday August 05 2020, @03:51PM (2 children)
Speaking of complacency, along with a probably lack of training:
I watched footage on a news channel years ago. A trucking company was shut down for the weekend, when one of their trailers caught fire. Fire department responds, and doesn't really bother checking the placards on the truck. They roll up, and start the fire hoses going. BOOM!!! They back off a little bit, then come back at it with the water hoses. BOOM! And, it continues, looking very much like a Keystone Cops comedy sketch.
Can't remember now which one it was, but it was a flammable metal. Flammable metals produce all the oxygen they need to burn by themselves, of course. But, spraying nice, sweet, oxygenated water on the fire only made things worse.
These dumbass macho firemen insisted that they were going to kill the fire, and kept going back at it with water.
Somehow, they didn't manage to kill themselves. If they had only read the placards, and maybe the MSDS, and possibly even called Chemtrec, they would have learned how to deal with the fire. Which, would have been to back off, and let the fire burn itself out.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Wednesday August 05 2020, @06:24PM (1 child)
Probably Sodium or Magnesium. Magnesium is hard to ignite but once it gets going it is hot enough to decompose H2O in to O2 and H2, which it then burn to get even hotter. Sodium will ignite and burn in contact with water.
You mean the MSDS placards that where on the sides of the BURNING trailer and covered in flames, possibly already burned off when the firefighters arrived? It takes time to call a company on a weekend and actually get through to someone who can give you information about what might be in a truck trailer. How long was the video?
containing/controlling fires is their job. They put their lives on the line to protect you and your property and that of your family and friends.
Water might have been all they had on hand at the time, not all engine companies have foam or other specialized fire suppression systems.Since you didn't mention the fire spreading to the warehouse and burning it to the ground it would seem they did a good job containing the blaze until the needed equipment arrived.
"dumbass macho"? based on what? firefighters doing their jobs to the best of their ability with the limited information and equipment they had at hand?
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday August 05 2020, @06:53PM
You may feel the need to stick up for firemen in general. Not necessary. In comparison to this Podunk Ohio fire department, the Houston Fire Department responded to a chemical emergency for me on a Saturday morning. Their command truck had every MSDS there is, right there in the truck. They KNEW Chemtrec's number. And, I promise, if you call Chemtrec ANYTIME, you'll get a prompt response. 24/7/365, 366 on leap years.
Not every fire department in this country is equally well trained.
When the reporters arrived, some time after the fire department arrived, the placards were still visible in their footage. The fire department had no excuse for not identifying the material in the trailer.
And, to answer your other question - no, there was no warehouse, no residential area close at hand. It was just a typical trucking company lot, full of trucks, trailers, and an office building with an attached 4 or 5 bay garage.
BTW - foam won't extinguish all flammable metals. Navy protocol is, for a magnesium fire, you push the aircraft overboard. You don't even make any serious attempt to extinguish it. Identify the source of the fire, if it's the magnesium, you deep six it. The foam and/or water will be used to extinquish any fires that were caused by the flammable metal burning, AFTER that metal is out of the way.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday August 06 2020, @12:22PM
Wikipedia even has a listicle about this.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by leon_the_cat on Wednesday August 05 2020, @01:53PM (2 children)
I don't get why they didn't just blow up the ship.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Wednesday August 05 2020, @02:00PM (1 child)
Why do that when it have actual value. They could have just done anything with it really. It's not like it's a worthless product.
Apparently the officials knew about it, was worried about it, wanted to do something about it for the last six years or so. But nothing happened. It just stayed there for some reason. One would think that with the rampant corruption that someone would have wanted to steal it, or sell it or just do something with it. Customs officials had for the last six years apparently tried to get rid of it but whomever was above them in the hierarchy just couldn't be bothered, or wasn't getting their taste of the action or some such reason.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/officials-knew-danger-beirut-port-years-200805032416684.html [aljazeera.com]
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @03:38PM
On the plus side, plants should grow really well down by the port now.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday August 06 2020, @12:28PM (1 child)
Handy hint - if your (coastal, as this was) harbour is in the *middle* of your capital, then half of your capital is already under water, and you've therefore got bigger problems.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Friday August 07 2020, @02:52PM
City centre might be at the end of a long fjord, with the city itself wrapped around its sides.
(Score: 2) by legont on Friday August 07 2020, @11:30PM
To continue your line of thoughts, Israelis found out and set it up, right?
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by martyb on Wednesday August 05 2020, @12:37PM (12 children)
I feel so powerless.
So many people killed and wounded. Families decimated. Homes shattered. Businesses destroyed.
People with hopes and dreams who were trying to go about their lives just like anybody else.
I am crying in pain. Has not 2020 been enough a challenge already?
But, behind that pain is the knowledge that we will endure somehow. I cannot go there to help out, but I can make a change here — where I live — and somehow try to make things better for those around me.
Lend an ear and a shoulder to one who is sad. Share my experiences and perspective with someone who struggles with their life's overwhelming challenges. Offer encouragement to someone who overcomes adversity. Do something nice thing for someone else... just because.
It is my hope that all who read this find some peace in today's miasma of pain and grief... and try to help and comfort others who are hurting.
Wit is intellect, dancing. I'm too old to act my age. Life is too important to take myself seriously.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @02:45PM (3 children)
2020 is only just beginning.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @05:19PM (2 children)
Everybody dies.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2020, @02:31AM (1 child)
in 2020.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday August 06 2020, @09:02AM
I estimate we have about two years of suffering.
Source, the italian version of a SF movie, titled: 2022 i sopravvissuti (the survivors)
You might have heard of the original movie, 1973's "Soylent Green" :)
Account abandoned.
(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
(Score: 1, Troll) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Wednesday August 05 2020, @03:40PM (1 child)
Dude... So much virtue signaling in one post...
You give me diabetes.
(Score: 0, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @08:38PM
Good, maybe that diabetes will make your hands fall off and we won't have to read your diarrhea.
Was that enough salt?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Muad'Dave on Wednesday August 05 2020, @01:02PM (10 children)
At least one person thinks it was more than ANFO:
link [cnn.com].
Personally I think it was either nitric acid or nitrogen tetroxide, both of which are used as an oxidizer in many liquid-fueled rockets.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday August 05 2020, @01:10PM (1 child)
Many keep referring to the fireworks that were there, on a boat or something. If they mixed in, could they have caused the colored smoke? What little I know about fireworks is that it takes very little amount of specific chemical additives to cause the various smoke and fire colors. Or, being warehouses, other chemicals?
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Wednesday August 05 2020, @01:20PM
I understand the "fireworks" heard by people were smaller exposions before the big one, individual barrels perhaps.
(Score: 2) by deadstick on Wednesday August 05 2020, @01:22PM (4 children)
I had been under the impression that ammonium nitrate needed another reagent, such as fuel oil, to become explosive...but a chemist cousin tells me there are certain environmental factors that can make straight NH4NO3 go off.
Of course, there's chemical evidence strewn all over the Middle East now, so we should be seeing a lot of analysis by every actor that has a stake over there.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Wednesday August 05 2020, @01:40PM (1 child)
I had been under the same impression until yesterday. Look up the Texas fertilizer factory explosion.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday August 05 2020, @03:53PM
The fire there was officially ruled as having been deliberately set. In part, because they couldn't find any other reason for it to have gone off. So, environmental factors, mishandling, or deliberate setting, it's unclear. It would seem that an explosion of that magnitude makes the gathering of evidence a difficult thing.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Wednesday August 05 2020, @05:47PM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Wednesday August 05 2020, @05:52PM
(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.)
(Score: 1) by gmby on Wednesday August 05 2020, @06:36PM
The grain silos next to the blast had the same color grain in them as the cloud. Look at the after pics and you can see the grain all over the ground near the silos.
When I first saw the blast I was thinking it was the silos going up. I was wrong. The sides of the silos are "fallen" down not blown out.
Looked up colors of nuke blast to see if anything was the same. Concluded that it was not Nuke.
Bye
(Score: 3, Informative) by PinkyGigglebrain on Wednesday August 05 2020, @06:39PM
Nitric acid is reddish in color and could have resulted from the non-explosive decomposition of a portion of the Ammonium nitrate.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @01:20PM (12 children)
https://twitter.com/AhA47024592/status/1290984736190537729 [twitter.com]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday August 05 2020, @01:26PM (11 children)
I'm going to assume that second photo was taken during the fire and before the explosion. Is the photographer even alive?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @02:02PM (5 children)
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EeqE6zpWkAYSqrY?format=jpg&name=large [twimg.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Wednesday August 05 2020, @02:33PM (2 children)
It looks like that taller building in the center may have prevented the blast wave from being even worse.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday August 05 2020, @03:15PM
Little Boy detonated at 580 meters above Hiroshima, Fat Man at ~503 meters above Nagasaki, but off-target:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki [wikipedia.org]
The ground location of the Beirut explosion limited the damage somewhat, and that tall building next to the warehouse could have prevented hundreds of additional deaths by soaking up a lot of the energy.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday August 05 2020, @07:48PM
https://streamable.com/zykkj6 [streamable.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by looorg on Wednesday August 05 2020, @02:33PM (1 child)
Doesn't that image look odd? Or the ! marker looks out of place, shouldn't it be across the road on the other building, the one that is a big crater in the left most image. Something in that building across the road sure did go boom to leave the crater and rip a large section of the docks with it. The rest of them just look like they got blown away by the shockwave.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday August 05 2020, @02:42PM
The ! marker is just in the wrong place. Not uncommon with mapping applications. It should be on the building to the left [twitter.com], where the crater is.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by istartedi on Wednesday August 05 2020, @05:00PM (3 children)
In the post-explosion photo, the doors are closed. I'm guessing that the pre-explosion photos were taken well before, so the photos supply no evidence that the subjects or the photographer were in our out of the blast zone.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @05:20PM (2 children)
There was also a video of the big boom from someone standing across the street. I didn't post the link because it's NSFW. No way that guy survived the shock wave.
(Score: 1) by gmby on Wednesday August 05 2020, @07:48PM (1 child)
Not all of us are at work. Post the link with NSFW on it.
Bye
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday August 06 2020, @09:14AM
maybe he meant "not safe if you don't want to suffer from post traumatic stres disorder afterwards", or NSIYDWTSFPTSDA
Account abandoned.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday August 05 2020, @11:15PM