Massive explosion rocks Beirut, causing hundreds of injuries and widespread damage

[techbeck]

1 hour ago, margrave said:

One of the angles of the explosion was like mini shroom cloud for a split second at the start.

 

This is just horrible.

Watched a video of a guy who was a filming the fire a few miles away from a high rise.  Then you see the explosion and the guy took cover.  When he went back to filming, you just see a bunch of smoke/dust and a big red cloud.

[+primortal Subscriber²]

48 minutes ago, techbeck said:

Technically, it was a bomb since ammonium nitrate is the main/most important component used in some bombs/explosive materials.

 

 

 

So, would you call fireworks bombs also because they to also have components used in making bombs/explosive materials and as a bonus have fuse?  Ammonium nitrate has other uses than being just a component of making bombs.  So no, it technically wasn't a bomb, being it wasn't exploded by impact, fuse, or timing device.

[techbeck]

32 minutes ago, primortal said:

So, would you call fireworks bombs also because they to also have components used in making bombs/explosive materials and as a bonus have fuse?  Ammonium nitrate has other uses than being just a component of making bombs.  So no, it technically wasn't a bomb, being it wasn't exploded by impact, fuse, or timing device.

Just my opinion.  Depending on what caused the fire to begin with, materials could have been set on fire purposely acting like a fuse to ignite the ammonium nitrate.   If someone wanted to cause destruction in that area, 99 percent of the work is already done.   Beirut has had their fair share of attacks over the years.    Hopefully not a purposeful act as the world does not need another disaster like this. 

 

Anyway, the ammonium nitrate should have been disposed of a long time ago and this could have been prevented.

 

List of attacks in Lebanon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_attacks_in_Lebanon

 

Lebanon has a history of bomb incidents.  So why make a bomb when the majority of the work is done for you.  Just need a way to ignite it.  Again, hopefully this is not the case where someone did this intentionally.

Edited August 5, 2020 by techbeck

[techbeck]

[Astra.Xtreme]

33 minutes ago, primortal said:

So, would you call fireworks bombs also because they to also have components used in making bombs/explosive materials and as a bonus have fuse?  Ammonium nitrate has other uses than being just a component of making bombs.  So no, it technically wasn't a bomb, being it wasn't exploded by impact, fuse, or timing device.

Fireworks absolutely are, albeit a miniaturized form.  The general term applies to a chemical reaction that triggers an explosion, and means of ignition doesn't really matter.

[+Warwagon MVC]

 

[wakjak]

I think the fire happened in a fireworks factory nearby and spread to other nearby buildings, finally reaching the storage area for the ammonium nitrate.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the death toll reaches over 1000.

[mudslag]

[DocM]

Hmmm...sodium nitrate?

 

 

[DocM]

Methinks Hezbollah is going to have a problem...

 

https://www.chron.com/news/article/Beirut-blast-death-toll-rises-to-100-with-more-15459969.php#item-85307-tbla-6

 

Quote

Shock turns to anger following fatal blast in Beirut

 

BEIRUT - As dazed Lebanese picked through the wreckage inflicted by the massive explosion in their capital city on Wednesday, shock turned to anger at the corruption and incompetence that allowed a massive pile of dangerous chemicals to sit unattended in a warehouse at Beirut's port for six years.
>
...The blast was heard 150 miles away on the island of Cyprus.
>
"People saw firsthand with devastating results what it means to have a failed state," said Paul Abi Nasr of the Lebanese Association of Industrialists. "It's not just that the government is corrupt, that the state is weak, that there are weapons outside the hands of the government. We saw these things come together catastrophically."
>
"Even if foreign countries send help, the government will steal it," said a 23-year-old student who was among hundreds of volunteers who showed up to help clear the streets of debris and broken glass.

In any case, she said, "we will not be able to repair all this."
>

 

[spikey_richie]

"They believe the explosion was the equivalent of 1,000 to 1,500 tonnes of TNT – a blast intensity which would support the belief that it was caused by the detonation of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser."

 

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/beirut-explosion-was-one-of-the-biggest-non-nuclear-blasts-in-human-history

[techbeck]

Beirut explosion linked to Russian ship storing ammonium nitrate left in port, called 'floating bomb'

https://www.foxnews.com/world/russian-ship-storing-ammonium-nitrate-was-left-in-beirut-port-without-safety-precautions-repo

 

Quote

 

Investigators probing the devastating blast in Beirut that killed at least 135 people and injured 5,000 more are pointing to a Russian ship docked in the city's port for nearly seven years without appropriate security precautions that officials warned was “a floating bomb.”

 

The Russian vessel, named MV Rhosus, carrying agricultural fertilizer with 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate and en route to Mozambique hit a financial snag and docked in the Beruit port in 2013, according to legal documents and Lebanese officials, the Washington Post reported.

 

Lebanon’s director of customs, Badri Daher, repeatedly sent letters to the judiciary over the years and warned that the cargo was the equivalent of “a floating bomb," but the warnings went unheeded.

 

 

[waysidesc]

23 hours ago, primortal said:

So, would you call fireworks bombs also because they to also have components used in making bombs/explosive materials and as a bonus have fuse?  Ammonium nitrate has other uses than being just a component of making bombs.  So no, it technically wasn't a bomb, being it wasn't exploded by impact, fuse, or timing device.

Not only that ... but it is clear that the U.S. so-called leader meant that it was an attack ... when it wasn't ...

[+primortal Subscriber²]

 

[DocM]

On 8/5/2020 at 9:10 AM, neufuse said:

yeah I saw trump say that this morning and first thought was gawd trump just shut up........ everyone already knew what happened when he said that at the press conference and yet he goes on with that.....

 

Apparently not...

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2020/08/07/beirut-explosion-due-negligence-missile-says-lebanon-president/3317722001/

 

Quote

 

Lebanon president: Beirut explosion either due to negligence or missile, bomb

 

Lebanese President Michel Aoun said Friday there are two possible causes of Tuesday’s explosion that killed nearly 150 people – either negligence or “external intervention” by a missile or bomb.

He also rejected the United Nations human rights commission call for an international investigation.

>

 

 

[adrynalyne]

5 minutes ago, DocM said:

 

Apparently not...

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2020/08/07/beirut-explosion-due-negligence-missile-says-lebanon-president/3317722001/

 

 

In other words, he doesn't know. In that its one of those, is something ANYONE could have surmised.