MASSIVE Explosion in Beirut, Lebanon?!?

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by 137th Gebirg, Aug 4, 2020.

  1. 137th Gebirg

    137th Gebirg Admiral Premium Member

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  2. antinoos

    antinoos Commander Red Shirt

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  3. 137th Gebirg

    137th Gebirg Admiral Premium Member

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    Sadly, I can't think of anything in the natural world that would produce a reddish-brown cloud like that. It is almost certainly toxic. Concerned about the body count that will emerge as a result. I can't fathom the size of that blast - it reminds me of the test footage of MOAB fuel-air bombs from about decade or two ago.

    In some of the more close-up videos, you can definitely see multiple small flashes happening right before the main blast. It resembles ammunition and other ordnance cooking off from the heat before it hits the main magazine in storage.
     
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  4. UssGlenn

    UssGlenn Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    The red color is consistent with a Nitrate explosion. Reports have it as being explosive material seized off a ship several years ago and being stored there ever since. Reuters is reporting ammonium nitrate.
     
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  5. Kai "the spy"

    Kai "the spy" Admiral Admiral

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    This video shows several smaller explosions before the big one went off. Seems like fireworks, which might have been stored nearby the warehouse with the nitrate.

    Best source for news about this is probably the Al Jazeera Newsticker. There is a nearby hospital that has had to start turning people away because they were flooded with wounded, not to mention the building itself being damaged. The current numbers are 73 dead, with 3,700 injured.
     
  6. think

    think Like Spock Premium Member

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    oh --- :(
     
  7. StarCruiser

    StarCruiser Commodore Commodore

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    Something like a 1.3 KILO ton explosion from ammonium nitrate will do that...
     
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  8. antinoos

    antinoos Commander Red Shirt

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    It's like the opening of an action movie

     
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  9. Ar-Pharazon

    Ar-Pharazon Admiral Premium Member

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    So it was worse than the OKC bombing because of the sheer volume of ammonium nitrate, but not "as bad" because there was no liquid nitromethane involved? ie: not built to be a bomb?
     
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  10. StarCruiser

    StarCruiser Commodore Commodore

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    I - personally - think it would have been much worse if it wasn't for that huge grain silo sitting where it was. That may have deflected a lot of the energy of the blast that might have actually knocked down more buildings (and God know what other damage).
     
  11. valkyrie013

    valkyrie013 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    2750 TONS of ammonium nitrate. Ok bomber had 3 tons.. So 6000lbs vs 5 million lbs.

    Look up 1946 Texas City. Similar thing of a ship catching fire with 2300 Tons of ammonium nitrate.
    Or the Halifax explosion.
    Either way .. Probably top 5 non nuclear explosions ever.
     
  12. 137th Gebirg

    137th Gebirg Admiral Premium Member

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    Damn.... that's a lot of fertilizer. What were they doing with all that stored in one place? The extra little mini-explosions give me pause. They really look like fireworks or ammunition cooking off, causing the main blast. This looks like an accident that's been waiting to happen for a really long time, and it doesn't look like that much stockpiled AN was destined for anyone's farms for a while.
     
  13. valkyrie013

    valkyrie013 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    So.. So far it was a fireworks cought on fire next door and spread to the bunker of fertilizer.
    As for why?
    2014 or so a russian ship had the fertilizer and got confiscated and put in the warehouse.

    So a warehouse of ammonium nitrate 2750 Tons were just sitting there for 6-7 years in an unguarded warehouse. Next doore was fireworks. Fire then big badda boom
     
  14. Ar-Pharazon

    Ar-Pharazon Admiral Premium Member

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    OKC added the liquid nitromethane (aka: NITRO) to the fertilizer for a much more effective explosion.

    I'm just asking...for a friend, how much more effective the mixture is vs just the ammonium nitrate.
     
  15. Locutus of Bored

    Locutus of Bored Yo, Dawg! I Heard You Like Avatars... In Memoriam

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    On top of that, the tall structure next door to the warehouse is a grain elevator and silos, where there is a risk of a grain dust explosion and fire.

    Go to 1:49:
     
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  16. 137th Gebirg

    137th Gebirg Admiral Premium Member

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    Yep, many kinds of large-granular dust, particularly grain particulates and sawdust are major accelerants.
     
  17. publiusr

    publiusr Admiral Admiral

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    This happened in the United States back in 1947, and was known as the Texas City disaster.

    Here, a similar amount went up—but the fertilizer caught fire inside the ship, then called Grandcamp.

    This Liberty ship became a skyscraper sized pipe bomb. It was moored next to the Monsanto styrene plant, in the same relative position as the large building in this disaster.
    Texas City had oil storage tank farms just inland. Several slips down the dock was a similar C-10 ship, that had a similar load and exploded a day or so later. This unfortunate ship shared its name with a vessel also nearby a port explosion in Halifax.

    The ship name?

    High Flyer.

    Musk’s starship wasn’t the biggest bit of steel that flew above Texas.
     
  18. Ar-Pharazon

    Ar-Pharazon Admiral Premium Member

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    Wow. It's amazing I've never heard of that until now.

    And such a different time in so many ways:
     
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  19. publiusr

    publiusr Admiral Admiral

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    Port Chicago may have been worse:

    As per the wiki, an Army Air Corp pilot said the fireball was miles in diameter.

    The dumbest incident was Oppau.

    When the fertilizer caked together and resisted pick axes, the idiots used dynamite to break it up!

    These things happen more often than you’d think. Forget 9/11...that’s nothing.

    The worst thing I can imagine would be an ANFO filled freighter sailing in New York harbor flanked by a venting LNG carrier on one side and a Very Large Crude Carrier spilling high test on the other.

    A nuke would be merciful by comparison.
     
    Last edited: Aug 10, 2020
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  20. Ar-Pharazon

    Ar-Pharazon Admiral Premium Member

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