New said it had been there six years and politics and intrigue prevented material being moved. And besides, what's one more big explosion in Beirut?
There was a big explosion in Beirut Lebanon
- Thread starter JimPghPA
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The Texas City,Texas explosion of a cargo ship loaded with the fertilizer exploded after a fire broke out on the ship. Hundreds of people went down to the docks to watch the show and were never seen again when 2700 tons of the fertilizer exploded. Large parts of the ship were blown several miles by the explosion. I was a kid and remember reading about a lady that was hanging her wash miles away and was killed when a piece landed on her.
From what I was reading, the ship had mechanical issues and had been docked there temporarily. Then there was an issue with the creditors and various creditors were trying to take possessions of it to satisfy debt. It was then offloaded into the warehouse because it was not safe to store in thes ship.
Here's the backstory of how the 2,750 tons of Ammonium nitrate ended up stuck in the port of Beirut.
en.wikipedia.org
MV Rhosus - Wikipedia
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My grandfather and uncles were working in Texas City when that happened and each time there was an incident in one of the shipyards or petro-chemical plant after that they would re-tell that story. I remember them telling it several times while growing up.
For context, this anchor was blown 1.6 miles away from the center of the explosion:
That shock wave was just astounding. Think about all the people watching a warehouse fire from "A safe distance" then it erupts like that. 300,000 homeless, per one report.
In watching video of the explosion, one can clearly see the fire that was already raging in that warehouse.
The detonation happened in the big plume of smoke rising up. Fire preceded detonation in all of the other ammonium nitrate explosions, too. It’s relatively stable under normal conditions.
Subject it to fire and it’s going to go high order...
The detonation happened in the big plume of smoke rising up. Fire preceded detonation in all of the other ammonium nitrate explosions, too. It’s relatively stable under normal conditions.
Subject it to fire and it’s going to go high order...
Yep.
Really sad that it destabilized a teetering country in the region. It is never good for their their neighbors or region or really world when countries are in this state.
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Anyone remember the fertilizer explosion here in Texas back in 2013? My girlfriend said she felt it at our home right outside of Ft Worth. I was at work, and she called me and said it felt like we'd had a small earthquake. She said the windows rattled on our home.
en.wikipedia.org
West Fertilizer Company explosion - Wikipedia
FBI, along with French investigators, to join investigation into the explosion, specifically, the cause of the fire that apparently triggered the blast:
gvwire.com
US Official: FBI to Join Beirut Explosion Investigation
BEIRUT — Visiting U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs David Hale says the Federal Bureau of Investigation will be joining Lebanese and other international investigators in the probe into the Beirut port blast that killed and wounded thousands. Hale said during a visit to one of the...
gvwire.com
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