Huge explosion in Lebanese capital, Beirut

[1andrew1]

At least 10 people have been killed in a huge explosion in the Lebanese capital Beirut, officials have said.

The country's health minister Hamad Hasan also told local news station LBC that there are a "high number of injuries" and the blast had caused extensive damage.

Footage shows the moment a building several storeys high exploded, sending a vast shockwave across the city.

Pictures showed a scene of devastation with cars upturned and emergency crews in operation in a large area around the gutted building....

Firecrackers are stored in the area where the blast occurred, local TV reported.

The cause of the blast was not immediately clear.

https://news.sky.com/story/lebanon-l...eirut-12042456

Wow, thats a huge explosion.

[Taf]

To me, that looks like a flour dust explosion.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Taf

To me, that looks like a flour dust explosion.

Looks like a Big Bang with accompanying pressure wave followed by Hezbollah saying, “Bugger there goes all our rockets”, And immediate denial of all knowledge from Israel.

[Hom3r]

Both my dad and I saw this and went "Fuff".

---------- Post added at 22:38 ---------- Previous post was at 22:12 ----------

PM: 'Unacceptable' that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate be in warehouse

Lebanon's Prime Minsiter Hassan Diab has said it is "unacceptable" that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate were being stored in a warehouse.
"I will not rest until we find the person responsible for what happened, so we can hold them to account and impose the most severe punishment," the prime minister was quoted as saying by an official Twitter account.
"It is unacceptable that a shipment of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate has been present for six years in a warehouse, without taking preventive measures and endangering the safety of citizens".

That is an amazing, unbelievable, screw up.

[denphone]

Sadly the latest figures they have now are that there are 78 dead and more then 4,000 injured.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-53659282

[heero_yuy]

Apparently the werehouse had 2,700 tons of Amonium Nitrate stored there that had been confiscated several uears earlier from a ship.

This chemical in its own right is not explosive ( It's an oxidising agent ) but if in combination with a flammable source, such as gas or oil, will facilitate an explosion.

From the pictures it looks like a fire was already in progress before the explosion so the flammable agent was there heating up the Nitrate.

See ANFO

[papa smurf]

Originally Posted by heero_yuy

Apparently the werehouse had 2,700 tons of Amonium Nitrate stored there that had been confiscated several uears earlier from a ship.

This chemical in its own right is not explosive ( It's an oxidising agent ) but if in combination with a flammable source, such as gas or oil, will facilitate an explosion.

From the pictures it looks like a fire was already in progress before the explosion so the flammable agent was there heating up the Nitrate.

See ANFO

Sky reporting someone was welding in the building

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by papa smurf

Sky reporting someone was welding in the building

I can hear how that job offer went.
The good news is we have a new highly paid welding job for you. The bad news is that it's next to the biggest stack of ammonium nitrate in the Middle East!

[heero_yuy]

The explosion is reported to be approximately 1/5 the size of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb and the largest in peacetime.

The devastation is unbelieveable.

The videos on-line seem to show a smaller initial explosion with red smoke just before the main blast.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by heero_yuy

The explosion is reported to be approximately 1/5 the size of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb and the largest in peacetime.

The devastation is unbelieveable.

The videos on-line seem to show a smaller initial explosion with red smoke just before the main blast.

The sad thing is, the smaller explosion would have peaked peoples interest, perhaps have them stood at windows in nearby building looking to see what was happening, and then the big blast would have come.

[Hom3r]

The 2015 Tianjin explosion in China was only 800 tons of AN, that stripped concrete balcony's off tower blocks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Tianjin_explosions

[Carth]

That stuff had only been sitting there for 6 or 7 years, what could possibly go wrong?

Unless there was some lengthy legality issue on ownership, you'd have thought they'd have sold most of it off by now (prospective buyers fully vetted ) . . . or moved it away from such a highly populated area.

[heero_yuy]

Originally Posted by Pierre

The sad thing is, the smaller explosion would have peaked peoples interest, perhaps have them stood at windows in nearby building looking to see what was happening, and then the big blast would have come.

There's only a split second between the small one and the main blast. It just looked interesting. There is some speculation that fireworks were also being stored in the warehouse so that could have been the smaller initial explosion with the red smoke.