Beirut explosion shatters windows across Lebanese capital

In some of the clips from people who caught the blast on their cameras, you can see fire in the warehouse which was storing fireworks and a bunch of small white flashes, indicating the fireworks were cracking before the AN blew.

 

It sure did leave a crater. An entire chunk of ground is missing from the port.

I've only seen one person suggest there may have been underground storage below the warehouses, but that was just Twitter user doing armchair analysis. The AN fertilizer business explosion in West, TX also left a deep crater in the earth.

 

If TX is Texas then you are correct

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/08/05/beirut-explosions-ammonium-nitrate/

That is what people are reporting was there not fireworks, though I see some people are saying both.

 

During a video montages, i heard what sounded like fireworks during the initial fire. I think that set off the fertilizer next door. I heard the West, TX explosion from 55 miles away. I'm hearing this one is 7-8 times that size.

 

OK LoneStarGal I stand corrected!

https://www.latimes.com/world-natio...n-likely-fueled-by-fireworks-ammonium-nitrate

Catastrophic though this is on its own, I really do hope it was an accident.

 

There was definitively a fire in the warehouse before the explosion. It sure looks like the fireworks were going off.

https://twitter.com/ConflictsW/status/1290681902781861888

 

West, TX has 30-40 tons of stored AN. Beirtut apparently had 2,700 tons.

Pretty "sloppy" storage. Bags piled on bags....

 

What would cause the fireworks to explode? Given that they are saying that in order to get the AN to explode they would need oil/fuel, do fireworks have the needed fuel or is it once there is a fire off it goes?

 

Cigarette? Who knows what started the fire. They never found out what started the West, TX fire either. They thought at one point it was arson, but never could make that case definitively.

I posted earlier AN disasters. See Case #2. Sustained fire alone can cause AN to explode.

 

Here is the thing though. I am not hearing people this side of the pond talking about fireworks though it is accepted there was the early fire either in the building or beside it. It looks like the US and UK are looking at this in a different way.

Jeremy Bower asking questions about who knew it was there.

 

Logically, fireworks themselves would not have penetrated a dividing wall between two adjoined warehouses (one storing fireworks, and one storing AN). However the fire took over the entire building until the explosion and it wold have been a very hot fire due to all the gunpowder in fireworks.

 

Yes, I get what you say I just find it strange that this is not what people are saying here and some of them have been experts. I have not heard one person associating the blast with fireworks....now this may just be because they are ignorant but it makes me feel like keeping my mind open till we get more information.

 

https://twitter.com/TIME/status/1290987630927085569

 

Watching the videos shown on TV last night makes me stick with the nuke theory. Time will tell.

Some are showing a very distinct plasma ball. https://www.rt.com/news/497116-lebanon-beirut-blast-videos-angles/

 

Do you think that those with a certain agenda, those in high places, might suppress the dissemination of facts to advance an agenda?

I think Israel sent a powerful message, pun intended.

Yes, VT is on again off again. But sometimes they get right, almost like Trump. This is likely one of those cases.

 

It is still American and the BBC is still talking about investigations. However it is not at all possible this is ignorance. They person I have just been listening to did not know how it got there but I don't think here it is a given that it was an accident and still no fireworks mentioned.

and I am noticing from the link I myself put in

https://www.latimes.com/world-natio...n-likely-fueled-by-fireworks-ammonium-nitrate

someone who works with the Israeli Government not being necessarily the most unbiased in this situation.

Israel has said it was not her both in the Times of Israel where they said they had heard it was not Israel

and another which I found in an article on Middle East Eye on how Countries are responding

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/...n-how-world-responded-international-reactions

The Times of Israel is suggesting that there is a possibility that people could have been welding and that although sparks from that would not have caused the explosion they could have set other things on fire raising the temperature which led to the explosion.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/myste...caused-ammonium-nitrate-to-explode-in-beirut/

so they too are not talking about fireworks at the moment.

 

Well, given enough time like 48-72 hours, diplomats and advisors of various countries have opportunity to develop stories which they will then disseminate to the pubic as "the truth". Stories may or may not match.

 

Good point

 

They have apparently arrested Port Officials
Port officials under house arrest after explosion in Lebanon’s capital

https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/ne...e-arrest-after-explosion-in-lebanons-capital/

which would suggest they are not thinking this was an outside attack but also seems strange as I am sure I read these Port Officials had asked for this to be removed.

I read that in Lebanon they are not blaming Hezbollah which some people thought would be the reaction but seem to be blaming corruption of the Government.

 

That was no fertilizer explosion. Felt hundreds of miles away? That's more like a krakatoa type event.

It reminds me of USA's mother of all bombs, Russia's father of all bombs, or Russia's Texas killer. I just hope this blast wasn't nuclear, that would cause nuclear fallout problems.

 

I've been reading this thread and I'm more convinced that this was an accident.

 

Lets store a bunch of fireworks next to 2,700 tons of potential high explosives, maybe do a little welding in the vicinity, what could possibly go wrong? How the hell did not one person with a brain say, "You know guys...."

 

The BBC mentioned the fireworks which they said was a speculation started on social media but also said was an understandable speculation. It is beginning to look unlikely that was so.

I have just been watching a video on this on Tysky Sour (Novada Media) With Dr Hicham Safieddine. Basically the initial feeling among many was that it was Israel but most people do not now believe that. It is believed that it almost certainly was an accident, though Dr Safieddine calls it 'criminal negligence' although we do not yet have the answer as to how it got started and according to some of our experts it would take one hell of a something to do that.

From the Financial Times quoted in the video below.

So how the fire was started is something which is not yet known. Michael Walker also goes into the reality that there are many different people/orgainisations/countries who may have an interest in doing this to Beirut. The belief is that this as an accident comes from Government Corruption and Negligence though I have not had that explained.

Dr Hicham Safieddine says that the situation in Beirut at the moment is that the Government is divided and Beirut is divided into a lot of different groups and they are all blaming 'the other'. He believes that whoever is responsible should be heavily punished for criminal negligence. Then he spoke about the need to work out who has been badly harmed and to get them compensation.

The big worry with all the 'help' being offered and this was particularly with the US which currently has sanctions of Lebanon as it did not like the result of their last election, the big worry is that helpers use this situation and the very neediness of Lebanon to try and pull a fast one on them taking away their autonomy and that is not limited to the US, Sadly that is how things have become. If someone needs help then use that as an excuse to squeeze out of them all you can while assuming the mantle of helper.

It's quite a good video if anyone wants to watch.