Beirut death toll rises to at least
100 as explosion is blamed on
2,750-ton ammonium nitrate stash
CNBC,
by
Natasha Turak
Original Article
Posted By: NorthernDog,
8/5/2020 9:15:54 AM
Beirut’s residents are in shock and mourning after an enormous explosion at the city’s port ripped through the Lebanese capital, killing at least 100 and injuring more than 4,000, according to the emergency services. Hospitals are overwhelmed, with some too damaged by the blast to operate. The explosion, which blew out windows and destroyed property for miles around, has been initially blamed on 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in an unsecured warehouse at Beirut’s cargo port. But the government subsequently announced an investigation to determine within five days the exact cause of the explosion and “who was responsible.”
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Vesicant 8/5/2020 9:25:27 AM (No. 500537)
Somebody's not getting their 72 virgins.
7 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Trump'sCousin 8/5/2020 9:25:58 AM (No. 500538)
NorthernDog, terrorists that's who!
9 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
MrDeplorable 8/5/2020 9:27:36 AM (No. 500542)
Now maybe the Oklahoma City conspiracy theorists will shut up.
5 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
TLCary 8/5/2020 9:37:46 AM (No. 500554)
The first report I heard from the Syrian government was that a cargo ship with fireworks blew up. Accidents happen, but a blast of that magnitude requires engineering, design, implementation.
5 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
red1066 8/5/2020 9:40:46 AM (No. 500556)
After seeing the photos of the aftermath of the explosion, I'm surprised the death toll was only 100. Of course, how many victims are still buried in the rubble, and how many were just blown to bits? I suspect the death toll could well be about thousand or more.
5 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
901AtTheRiver 8/5/2020 9:43:04 AM (No. 500560)
Ammonium nitrate is a great fertilizer and a powerful explosive. Texas City was leveled in 1947 by an explosion of ammonium nitrate in a ship's hold. Thirty incidents have occurred over the past 60 years involving the chemical.
3 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
jhpeters2 8/5/2020 9:52:13 AM (No. 500582)
Doesn't fertilizer explosions require significant amount of diesel fuel laced into the mix? How does a pile of Bandini Mountain simply blow up absent the diesel?
3 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
bighambone 8/5/2020 9:57:23 AM (No. 500589)
When the truth is known, if ever, indications are that thousands were killed and lie under rubble all over that part of the city.
Why was all that known explosive substance stored there unsecured for so many years? No doubt we will never get that answer. Now watch as countries all over the world start sending big money there for reconstruction including to the people who are responsible for the big explosion.
4 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Dodge Boy 8/5/2020 10:00:56 AM (No. 500593)
The ammonium nitrate by itself will not detonate unless diesel fuel had already been blended into it. Judging by the dome-shaped shock wave from the explosion as shown in the videos, the entire stockpile detonated simultaneously. For this to be possible, somebody had to have gone in there to install detonator caps into the center of the stockpile. Somebody had a score to settle and they did.
6 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
LoneVoice 8/5/2020 10:26:45 AM (No. 500638)
In 1983 the US embassy and the Marine barracks were blown up by Hezbollah terrorists in Beirut. Hezbollah has detonated many thousands of bombs since then. Nobody ever answered for those crimes. As a marine I kinda wish they'd blown up the whole GD city.
4 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Miceal 8/5/2020 10:41:47 AM (No. 500655)
I read in other sources it was a warehouse full of Iranian missiles about to be turned over to Hezbollah.
4 people like this.
Another similar report I saw said that the fertilizer had been taken off of a Russian owned ship in 2013. The Russian owned ship had been in too poor of repair to allow to leave port. The ship owners were unwilling to spend the money necessary to retrieve the cargo, so, there it sat.
1 person likes this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
mean Gene 8/5/2020 12:10:27 PM (No. 500766)
The two Hezbollah terrorists in Beirut who masterminded the 1983 bombing were assassinated by Mossad forces soon after the bombing.
Far as I know no one else was punished for their part in 1983 until this week.
1 person likes this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Twinkle93 8/5/2020 1:15:23 PM (No. 500862)
Ammonium nitrate in small quantities require diesel fuel for extra energy for its reaction rate to reach
explosive range. However, with large quantity of AN, the heat from the initial reaction can not
dissipate into the surrounding air due to the size of the pile due surface area versus volume of the pile.
Thus enough heat, (energy), is created so the reaction rate reaches the explosive range.
4 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Geoman 8/5/2020 2:45:44 PM (No. 500924)
Ammonium Nitrate can explode in the presence of fire or when in contact with pyrite, an iron sulfide mineral also known as fools gold. It. does not have to be mixed with fuel oil (ANFO). The last major explosion of AN in the US was at a fertilizer plant in the small town of West, TX in 2013.
3 people like this.
RE: question of who stores this much dangerous stuff so close to high population areas. Third world persons, terrorists, or third world gov't/military trying to protect it from US or Israeli destruction
1 person likes this.
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Who stores nearly 3,000 tons of potentially explosive materials on the edge of a city - in a unsecured warehouse?