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Massive Explosion in Beirut (1 Viewer)

I mean- it very well may have been an attack. a lot of planning involved- setting the fire in the fireworks place first, and then perfectly timing and aiming that bird rpg/missile to hit without any other videos but that one picking it up. or the fireworks fire was set intentionally to instigate the neighboring explosion (slightly more plausible). or there was a fire at the fireworks spot and it caused the explosion without intent. one of those seems more likely to me than the others, but I'm no general privvy to secret info and whatnot.

 
Lebanon’s Prime Minister sure seems like he is saying that it was the result of dangerous conditions at a warehouse long known to be a problem and not a bomb.

An investigation into the explosion was announced by Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab. The probe will include "revelations that will be announced about this dangerous warehouse which has been present since 2014," he said, without providing any additional details.

CNN's Ben Wedeman reported that authorities think a large amount of ammonium nitrate seized from a ship in 2013 or 2014 may have caused the blast.




 The lethal blast "will not pass without accountability," the Prime Minister said in a televised statement, adding that "those responsible will pay for what happened."

CNN Link
 
I swear I used to be able to post two separate quotes in a post but now it always seems to end up in some crazy formatting. 

 
An accident is a million times “better” in this case.

Hopefully Prez was just incorrect. COVID, rightly so, should be taking up his time so understandable.

A correction should be put out as info comes from locals though to quash any conspiracy stuff.

 
President saying his generals in the JCOS have advised him this appears to be intentional.  A bomb, perhaps, that sparked the other explosives.  

 
An accident is a million times “better” in this case.

Hopefully Prez was just incorrect. COVID, rightly so, should be taking up his time so understandable.

A correction should be put out as info comes from locals though to quash any conspiracy stuff.
unpossible

 
Seems highly irresponsible to throwing out conjecture like that.

To your point, @The General, hope a correction is issued.

And above all, hope for the best in Beirut -- that looked absolutely devastating and likely going to be dealing with the aftermath -- both the death and the destruction -- for a long time. 

You also have to wonder why storing that amount of ammonium nitrate near a fireworks factory for so long wasn't corrected.

 
Just found out my mother-in-law's cousin perished in the blast.  She was 85 and in her home at the time.  Apparently the windows were blown out and cut her up pretty badly and was unable to get timely medical attention.   :(
Sorry for your family's loss.  That's horrible.

 
So for ammonium nitrate to be explosive it needs to be mixed perfectly with a fuel source. That means they seized 2700 tons of explosive grade ammonium nitrate sometime last year and this didn’t make global news?

 
So for ammonium nitrate to be explosive it needs to be mixed perfectly with a fuel source. That means they seized 2700 tons of explosive grade ammonium nitrate sometime last year and this didn’t make global news?
I believe I read that the ammonium nitrate had been stored there for around 6 years.

 
So for ammonium nitrate to be explosive it needs to be mixed perfectly with a fuel source. That means they seized 2700 tons of explosive grade ammonium nitrate sometime last year and this didn’t make global news?
Does it though? It's possible that what they had was ANFO (ammonium nitrate/fuel oil mixture that's a common bulk industrial explosive used in construction, mining, and other uses), but thought ammonium nitrate could by itself decompose explosively from just heat and pressure alone. 

Same thing happened in the Texas City disaster in '47.

 
:lol:   yeah you are right.

But, the US Government saying it was an attack and not correcting it doesn’t take much to turn someone into Oliver Stone.

Simple correction is all that needs to be done.
This would require admitting he was wrong, not gonna happen.

So read this morning they were welding in the warehouse either where the ammonium nitrate was stored or the warehouse next to it. Fire started and quickly got out of control...BOOM!

Given the place in the world this is located and the government of said country and their ties to nefarious activities, it doesn't surprise me they have kept this stuff stored for all these years with  :tinfoilhat: the intent to use it down the road  :tinfoilhat: . Side observation, the reinforced grain silos took a major portion of that blast, probably to the benefit of the city. The redirected the blast to the sides and out onto the water rather than further into the city. Bad as it was, could have been a lot worse.

 
This sounds more and more devastating. Apparently this happened at the Port for Lebanon. Pretty much all of their trade went through this port and it’s now essentially leveled.

That large building you can see in the videos next to the explosion? That was grain silos where 90% of Lebanon’s grain passed through. It was also the location of their strategic grain reserve which was already mostly tapped out because of the terrible economic conditions in the country.

 
Such a crazy and sad event.  I hate to say it--but if the death toll can possibly stay under 100--I think that would be a miracle.  When I saw the videos of the explosion--it eerily reminded me of the explosions in Tianjin China years ago.  They said the cause of that was also a fire in the port that basically ended up spreading or leading to an area where an explosive chemical was being improperly stored.  I think Tianjin ended up with 165-200 fatalities--but that happened in the evening where they have been fewer people working or out near the port.  Thoughts and prayers to everybody in Beirut 

 
Death toll was already at 100 or more overnight and reported by multiple places. Will only continue to rise once they sift through the rubble, people are found to be missing and not hospitalized, and those getting treated succumb to injuries. Ten firemen there to put out the initial fire were killed.

Initial damage estimates of $5 billion with 300,000 said to be homeless as a result of the blast.

 
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Don't know validity of pics but seems reasonable

https://twitter.com/DavidVidecette/status/1290917581101113344?s=20

Keeping deaths under 100 seems impossible given the area of devastation. Hope so but man was that a big boom. More before & after.

Here is about the most close up I've seen of the blast https://twitter.com/AuroraIntel/status/1290682195804409856?s=20
a little closer  :shock:

assume that was live-streamed... can't imagine that person survived.

eta... wrong link...  :wall:  

from the link beer posted, scroll down for a video taken from a roof right next to the fireworks going off.

 
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The videos of the shock wave pushing out faster than the frame rate of the camera are just stunning.  

I mean the most comparable thing is Texas City, and they managed to tow the stuff out to sea a bit before it vaporized.  

 
Death toll was already at 100 or more overnight and reported by multiple places. Will only continue to rise once they sift through the rubble, people are found to be missing and not hospitalized, and those getting treated succumb to injuries. Ten firemen there to put out the initial fire were killed.

Initial damage estimates of $5 billion with 300,000 said to be homeless as a result of the blast.
How can 300,000 be homeless but only 100 deaths?  As you state, that number will go up so my fear is it will go way up.

 
How can 300,000 be homeless but only 100 deaths?  As you state, that number will go up so my fear is it will go way up.
Maybe a bunch of residences were evacuated in a certain radius because of air quality (not sure that's the right phrasing)?

 
How can 300,000 be homeless but only 100 deaths?  As you state, that number will go up so my fear is it will go way up.
I saw / heard that thousands of people are missing, so I am guessing the death toll will start jumping up. As far as homeless totals, I am assuming that most buildings had all their windows shattered. So they may be in need of temporary housing and are not long term homeless. It may have just been a translation issue in the explanation. But they did not elaborate. 

 
I saw / heard that thousands of people are missing, so I am guessing the death toll will start jumping up. As far as homeless totals, I am assuming that most buildings had all their windows shattered. So they may be in need of temporary housing and are not long term homeless. It may have just been a translation issue in the explanation. But they did not elaborate. 
Agreed.

Plus, they'll need to adequately check the structural stability of the buildings affected. 

 
I'd also think there were a fair amount of unoccupied buildings surrounding the port. Warehouses, etc. so the death toll in that immediate area is probably lower than it could have been. Yes, a lot of residential around the area but as mentioned above, lot of windows blown out, lot of injuries but maybe not as many deaths. Just speculation.

 

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