Beirut Explosion

[rdhopkins2]

A massive blast has rocked the Beirut port area. Absolutely huge blast with fatalities and many injured. Let’s hope it isn’t terrorism. Though whatever caused it, there needs to be thorough investigation. Incorrectly stored chemicals?

 

[Syd]

HUGE blast and massive damage and casualties



Initial report claimed that fireworks stored at the port were the cause (see small flashes), but there is no way that there could have been enough fireworks stored to cause an explosion of that size and scale.

 

[Catfish Alley]

Whoa. Crazy footage. First thing I noticed was that car travelling along to the bottom right of the explosion. Just got obliterated.

A warehouse with a lot of ammonium nitrate apparently.

 

[rdhopkins2]

Truly shocking. It looks like a case of negligence in behemoth portion.

 

[Jafa]

 

[Power Raid]

the red plume might provide investigators a clue

 

[Hawk Dork]

the red plume might provide investigators a clue

Red Smoke Recipe

• Potassium chlorate - 15%
• para-nitroaniline red - 65%
• Lactose - 20%

It's Easy To Make Colored Smoke

Colored smoke is easy to make and requires few ingredients. Here's a list of some colored smoke formulations to try.

www.thoughtco.com

 

[Power Raid]

Red Smoke Recipe

• Potassium chlorate - 15%
• para-nitroaniline red - 65%
• Lactose - 20%

It's Easy To Make Colored Smoke

Colored smoke is easy to make and requires few ingredients. Here's a list of some colored smoke formulations to try.

www.thoughtco.com

yep potassium chlorate is a likely component

looked like a bomb made from fertiliser for me

 

[MaryMallon]

Likely an industrial accident, the fire may have started from fireworks but the big bang was probably fertilizer given the size of the blast.

 

[NonPhixion]

**** that footage is terrifying, you can see a couple people trying to flee seconds before it happens. Absolutely horrific. RIP to all

 

[scoman]

The magnitude of that blast was crazy. So many poor souls in the wrong place at the wrong time. Would be shocked if the death toll isn't hundreds if not thousands. A real September 11 scale of a disaster.

From the videos it looks like there was already a fire? earlier explosion? with a fairly decent smoke plume. Trumpy reckons it's an attack according to his advisors.

 

[rdhopkins2]

The magnitude of that blast was crazy. So many poor souls in the wrong place at the wrong time. Would be shocked if the death toll isn't hundreds if not thousands. A real September 11 scale of a disaster.

From the videos it looks like there was already a fire? earlier explosion? with a fairly decent smoke plume. Trumpy reckons it's an attack according to his advisors.

It looks like a fire started, it seems as though fireworks can be seen and then the mammoth blast. Gross criminal negligence most likely but until authorities determine the cause I suppose 0.000001% of me believes this may be an act of terror.

 

[Sonny Bonds]

Just a bunch of fertiliser bags catching fire?

Ok.

 

[FRUMPY]

The magnitude of that blast was crazy. So many poor souls in the wrong place at the wrong time. Would be shocked if the death toll isn't hundreds if not thousands. A real September 11 scale of a disaster.

From the videos it looks like there was already a fire? earlier explosion? with a fairly decent smoke plume. Trumpy reckons it's an attack according to his advisors.

early numbers are under 100 but thousands injured - deaths will get higher you'd imagine.

 

[Ants]

What I'm reading is that a guy patching a hole in the fireworks factory with a welder accidentally started a fire. Unfortunately, next door to the fireworks factory was a warehouse storing 2700 tonnes of Ammonium Nitrate. So about 1000 times the size of the Oklahoma bomb size, 10% of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan.

Official sources are saying the ammonium nitrate was confiscated 6 years ago, but had not been moved, dispersed. If all true, one hell of a monumental stuff up.

Scenes are devastating:









At least one Aussie is dead.

Beirut Port officials placed under house arrest after explosion as death toll rises

Lebanon's Cabinet places all Beirut port officials who have overseen storage and security at the facility in the last six years under house arrest as the investigation into the massive explosion ramps up.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Richard Pryor]

Horrifying footage.

Robert Baer, a former CIA operative with extensive experience in the Middle East, said videos of Tuesday's blast showed that while ammonium nitrate may have been present in the warehouse, he does not believe it was responsible for the massive explosion that ensued.

Initial reports blamed the blast on a major fire at a warehouse for firecrackers near the port, according to Lebanese state news agency NNA.

Lebanon's Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, later said that 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive material used in fertilizers and bombs, had been stored for six years at a port warehouse without safety measures, "endangering the safety of citizens," according to a statement.

Baer said he thinks that there were military munitions and propellants present. He speculated it could have been a weapons cache, but it's unclear who it belongs to.

Lebanon's capital city rocked by explosion

A massive explosion has rocked the port area of Lebanon's capital, Beirut. Follow here for live updates.

edition.cnn.com

Even if it was just chemical storage it's still criminal negligence to store that much of the stuff next to firecrackers in the middle of a city. Just boggles the mind, and so unfair that so many people have been ****ed over by what seems to be just braindead decision making.

 

[MaryMallon]

This also isn't the first time I've seen something like this, a very similar incident happened in China a number of years ago.

 

[Hawk Dork]

US president Donald Trump suggested a “bomb” was involved in a “terrible attack” on Beirut on Tuesday after a massive explosion shook the Lebanese capital.

Citing US military officials as his source, Mr Trump also contradicted Lebanese reports which blamed the explosion on tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored at a portside warehouse.

‘Laughing stock’ Trump condemned saying Beirut explosion was bomb attack - follow live

Follow the latest updates

www.independent.co.uk

 

[rdhopkins2]

Hundreds of thousands now homeless apparently in Beirut in the middle of a global pandemic. A truly shocking event.

 

[Power Raid]

Hundreds of thousands now homeless apparently in Beirut in the middle of a global pandemic. A truly shocking event.

I hope the world gets behind Beirut and helps out

 

[Plugger35]

Looked like an atomic bomb going off, apparently the shockwave was similar to the shockwave from an atomic bomb so it was a huge explosion.

Death toll currently at 100 but will no doubt rise a lot further, some fire crews at the scene are still not accounted for.

 

[Shifty1]

Geez you would have thought Australia could give more than $2M, even with a record deficit due to Covid.

 

[craigos]

So if that fertiliser had been sitting there for years in a warehouse with no climate control/proper ventilation and stored on top of each other then it's no surprise it exploded. If this is the legit photo from the warehouse, it's beyond comprehension how this was allowed.

 

[FRUMPY]

So if that fertiliser had been sitting there for years in a warehouse with no climate control/proper ventilation and stored on top of each other then it's no surprise it exploded. If this is the legit photo from the warehouse, it's beyond comprehension how this was allowed.

You think other countries are starting to move some of their storage of similar products? How long till the one in newcastle gets moved around?

 

[craigos]

You think other countries are starting to move some of their storage of similar products? How long till the one in newcastle gets moved around?

I would think most countries would have it stored appropriately and probably not within such proximity to a dense population. High level of requirements in Australia for anything remotely DG/flammable so they'd have no need to move anything as it should already be adhering to strict storage laws.