Explosion in Beirut

[xsubsailor]

This is impressive !!

 

[Ski]

Allegedly caused by improperly stored ammonium nitrate

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-53656220

 

[GlockSpock]

So I saw this on Instagram and wondered if it was even real. That’s...wow. 

[deerslayer]

I bet anyone watching when it happened shat all in their pants when they saw that mushroom-ish cloud.  

[Jeb48]

One of the shots on the news looked like an underwater explosion, would think that would be hard from a warehouse explosion.

[hipower]

1 hour ago, Jeb48 said:

One of the shots on the news looked like an underwater explosion, would think that would be hard from a warehouse explosion.

Early report on FB this morning said the warehouse was located on the waterfront. 

So maybe underground storage?

In any event, it was a humdinger of a blast. I've been watching videos of different angles all day. It just looks horrific. 

[Erik88]

Interesting photos starting to surface.

 

Edited August 5, 2020 by Erik88

[DaveTN]

Good grief! That's a lot of devastation.

[hipower]

Wow. This looks far worse than the previous photos have shown. Evidently the storage was right on the docks. Right in front of the ship in the photo. Wonder if it was damaged and or capsized? Hard to tell thru the smoke, but from the surrounding damage, it would seem likely, at least that's my guess. 

[E4 No More]

https://www.firehouse.com/rescue/article/10495115/november-1988-six-kc-firefighters-killed-in-ammonium-nitrate-explosion

I lived in Kansas City at the time when this explosion of a trailer full of ammonium nitrate killed the firefighters. The devastation to the truck and area were memorable and unbelievable.  

[KahrMan]

I read that the Oklahoma City bombing used 2 tons of ammonium nitrate and that there was 2750 tons stored in that warehouse.

[Ronald_55]

So not be following this closely, but have they said what they think set it off?

IIRC, the Oklahoma City bomb also used diesel and blasting caps. Normally ammonium nitrate just doesn't blow up sitting there or no farms would store it for fertilizer. 

[E4 No More]

1 minute ago, Ronald_55 said:

So not be following this closely, but have they said what they think set it off?

IIRC, the Oklahoma City bomb also used diesel and blasting caps. Normally ammonium nitrate just doesn't blow up sitting there or no farms would store it for fertilizer. 

Yes, the OKC bomb was actually several slurry bombs in the rental truck that used diesel mixed with Ammonium Nitrate and blasting caps.

IIRC, high order explosives take heat and pressure to set them off. That's why our artillery shells that are filled with composition B had TNT right under the fuse. The fuse triggered the TNT, and the TNT triggered the Comp B. In the case of Ammonium Nitrate it takes a lot of heat to set it off, but the chain reaction is astounding. 

[DaveTN]

20 minutes ago, Ronald_55 said:

So not be following this closely, but have they said what they think set it off?

IIRC, the Oklahoma City bomb also used diesel and blasting caps. Normally ammonium nitrate just doesn't blow up sitting there or no farms would store it for fertilizer. 

Here is an explanation of what can happen. The “The longer it is left, the more likely it will get contaminated with items such as fuel oil” statement doesn’t make sense to me, but who knows.

https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-53664064

 

[Omega]

40 minutes ago, DaveTN said:

Here is an explanation of what can happen. The “The longer it is left, the more likely it will get contaminated with items such as fuel oil” statement doesn’t make sense to me, but who knows.

https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-53664064

 

I don't buy it, in Sapper School, we used it to make improvised explosives, oil, fertilizer, and oh yea, a stick of dynamite set off by a blasting cap.  The blast was impressive, much better than the proper cratering charge, but it was also must harder to implement.  You need a primary charge to set that stuff off, as has been said, heat and pressure is required, even with C-4, which you can use to heat your MREs BTW, just don't stomp on it when it's burning.

[Grayfox54]

As I understand it, things started off as a fire. The fire set off a large shipment of fireworks and that's what set off the fertilizer. 

[E4 No More]

38 minutes ago, Omega said:

I don't buy it, in Sapper School, we used it to make improvised explosives, oil, fertilizer, and oh yea, a stick of dynamite set off by a blasting cap.  The blast was impressive, much better than the proper cratering charge, but it was also must harder to implement.  You need a primary charge to set that stuff off, as has been said, heat and pressure is required, even with C-4, which you can use to heat your MREs BTW, just don't stomp on it when it's burning.

Ain't that the truth!

In the case of the Ammonium Nitrate explosion in Kansas City, it went off by nothing but an arson fire. The trailer wasn't marked to contain explosives.

Edited August 5, 2020 by E4 No More

[Capbyrd]

54 minutes ago, Grayfox54 said:

As I understand it, things started off as a fire. The fire set off a large shipment of fireworks and that's what set off the fertilizer. 

Bingo.  A fire in warehouse 9 spread.  


 

 

Here is some information about how the ammonium nitrate got there.  

 

Quote

Our correspondent in Moscow, Andrew Roth, has some gripping details on the ship that brought the ammonium nitrate to Beirut:

Little is known about the Russian owner of the Rhosus, the cargo ship impounded in Beirut in 2014, whose captain had referred to its freight of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate fertiliser as a “floating bomb”.

That ammonium nitrate is believed to have fuelled the devastating explosion that has left more than 100 dead in Beirut.

Former crew members said the ship was owned by Igor Grechushkin, a Russian national believed to be living in Cyprus, where he holds either citizenship or residency. Grechushkin, a native of the far-eastern city of Khabarovsk, is reported to have managed Teto Shipping, which owned the Rhosus.

The ship arrived in Beirut in 2013 while sailing from Georgia to Mozambique. It was prevented from leaving the Beirut port in 2014 over an unspecified dispute, either because the ship was deemed not seaworthy or because the owner had failed to pay the necessary fees to the port.

It was then that Grechushkin is said to have walked away from the ship, refusing to answer calls or negotiate with the port authorities for the release of his sailors.

In complaints to the press in 2014, former crew members said they had been “abandoned” in Beirut and had not been paid their wages for nearly a year. “The owner [of the ship] has virtually abandoned the ship and its crew,” wrote the ship’s former captain. “Salaries are not paid, supplies are not purchased. The shipowner has refused the cargo.”

A deleted LinkedIn profile lists Grechushkin as living in Cyprus and as working as a manager at Unimar Service Ltd. Calls to a company with a similar name and profile, Unimar Safety Services and Equipment, on Wednesday were not answered. Calls to a number for Grechushkin listed by the aggrieved crew members also went unanswered.

The letter, which was sent to Russian journalists by the Rhosus’s former captain in 2014, also complained about being “held hostage” onboard the ship. The Beirut authorities “don’t want an abandoned ship at port, especially with a cargo of explosives, which is what ammonium nitrate is. That is, this is a floating bomb, and the crew is a hostage aboard this bomb.”

The mostly Ukrainian crew were held onboard the ship for nearly a year before they were released. The ammonium nitrate was confiscated and held at the port in a warehouse.

The Russian television station Ren TV published a photograph on Wednesday of a man it said was Grechushkin in tight-fitting jeans and sunglasses sitting astride a motorcycle. The television station did not indicate the source of the photograph.

 

 

 

And a note about the local food situation.  

 

Quote

Looking ahead, there are concerns around Lebanon’s import-dependent food supply. In photos of the aftermath, you will be able to see destroyed wheat silos. Those accounted for up to 85% of the country’s grain, according to estimates, although they were reportedly nearly empty during the blast.

Reuters is quoting the economy minister, Raoul Nehme, as saying the nation has less than a month’s reserves of the grain but still with enough flour to avoid a crisis. the economy minister said on Wednesday.

 

 

They are already having a hard time economically.   This is going to kill many more for secondary and tertiary reasons.   Australia has already pledged a large financial donation.  Greece is working on sending money, supplies and people and the EU nations are working on sending relief workers and possible aid.  

 

 

 

[Omega]

1 hour ago, E4 No More said:

Ain't that the truth!

In the case of the Ammonium Nitrate explosion in Kansas City, it went off by nothing but an arson fire. The trailer wasn't marked to contain explosives.

Hmm, I wonder if the trailer created the pressure necessary for an explosion?  Like I said, stomping on burning C-4 is enough to lose a foot..at least.

[E4 No More]

13 minutes ago, Omega said:

Hmm, I wonder if the trailer created the pressure necessary for an explosion?  Like I said, stomping on burning C-4 is enough to lose a foot..at least.

Explains the large amount of water vapor in the cloud too. The Ammonium Nitrate is a lower order explosive than TNT, so it makes sense that it doesn't need pressure to explode - just rapid heating which a fireworks fire certainly can do.

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/beirut-explosion-how-ammonium-nitrate-caused-deadly-blast-in-lebanon/ 

When heated to above 170 degrees Fahrenheit, ammonium nitrate begins to undergo decomposition. But with rapid heating or detonation, a chemical reaction can occur that converts ammonium nitrate to nitrogen and oxygen gas and water vapor. The products of the reaction are harmless -- they're found in our atmosphere -- but the process releases huge amounts of energy. 

Edited August 5, 2020 by E4 No More

[bersaguy]

I wonder what the 3 guys were doing in that picture of them at the warehouse before the explosion. It was never explained what they were doing there. Could they have been terrorists planting a device that detonated the stuff from remote position after they got a good safe distance away?

[E4 No More]

4 hours ago, hipower said:

Wow. This looks far worse than the previous photos have shown. Evidently the storage was right on the docks. Right in front of the ship in the photo. Wonder if it was damaged and or capsized? Hard to tell thru the smoke, but from the surrounding damage, it would seem likely, at least that's my guess. 

https://www.foxnews.com/world/new-satellite-images-show-devastation-from-beirut-explosions

It looks capsized in the after photo at this link. It left and almost 140 Meter crater now filled with water.

[TomInMN]

15 minutes ago, bersaguy said:

I wonder what the 3 guys were doing in that picture of them at the warehouse before the explosion. It was never explained what they were doing there. Could they have been terrorists planting a device that detonated the stuff from remote position after they got a good safe distance away?

I think it's more likely that they were just three joes there working, maybe wishing they didn't have to work around a giant bomb.

[E4 No More]

I'm surprised a lot of the grain storage building is still standing when it was that close to the blast.

[Garufa]

26 minutes ago, E4 No More said:

I'm surprised a lot of the grain storage building is still standing when it was that close to the blast.

I wonder if it contributed to the blast.  Those things blow up too.

Edited August 5, 2020 by Garufa