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Massive Explosion at Beirut Port

Discussion in 'Free Fire Zone' started by Otto, Aug 4, 2020.

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  1. Otto

    Otto Spambot Nemesis Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    A cataclysmic explosion shook the port in Beirut just over an hour ago.

    Here is a live feed of the aftermath:
     
    Otto, Aug 4, 2020
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  2. Otto

    Otto Spambot Nemesis Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    Several views of the explosion, the mushroom cloud is deeply unsettling.

     
    Otto, Aug 4, 2020
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  3. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    Beautiful shock wave capture there. :eek:
     
    OpanaPointer, Aug 4, 2020
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  4. von Poop

    von Poop Waspish

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    Conspiracies flew within minutes, but current 'most official' theory is that a firework fire ignited some nearby nitrate storage.
    Apparently the red dust cloud fits nitrates well.
    If Nitrates, reported that a large quantity of recently confiscated stuff stored there.

    Mr Kaszeta quite good on this stuff.
    https://twitter.com/DanKaszeta
    He's just waved his years of experience at some basketball commentator asserting it was 'definitely nuclear'.
    Quite funny.

    I made a frightening mushroom cloud with some mates as a kid using... errrmm... things...
    The tree may never have recovered, but they weren't nuclear things.
     
    von Poop, Aug 4, 2020
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  5. von Poop

    von Poop Waspish

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    Blimey...

    b.jpg Annotation 2020-08-04 184946.jpg
     
    von Poop, Aug 4, 2020
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  6. Otto

    Otto Spambot Nemesis Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    I saw a clear video shortly before the big boom, there was a fire with clusters of smaller firework like explosions going off.

    An explosion this large is going to inspire conspiracy types, though the West Texas Fertilizer explosion was similar in scale. Ammonium nitrate explosions can be very, very large.
     
    Otto, Aug 4, 2020
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  7. von Poop

    von Poop Waspish

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    Cypriots reporting rattling windows & assuming it was a local bang. Also heard in their capital.

    Beirut -> Nicosia - c.150 miles.
    Big, big, bang.
     
    von Poop, Aug 4, 2020
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  8. von Poop

    von Poop Waspish

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    The IDF, two years ago.
    The mind wanders again.

    ergerg.jpg
    ergergwefwef.jpg
     
    von Poop, Aug 4, 2020
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  9. Takao

    Takao Ace

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    Looking at the damage, West Texas was probably significantly smaller.(2.1 Richter scale).

    I'm thinking 1988 Pepcon Explosion(3.45 Richter scale) or Oaklahoma City Bombing(6.0 Richter scale).

    Thankfully, Pepcon was not near any large population center.
    For the uninitiated - Pepcon



    Still, the mushroom cloud is hardly disconcerting, as any large explosion will produce one. Even much smaller explosives, properly prepared - say under a dust pile, will produce one.


    EDIT
    Looks like it was larger than Pepcon.
    Jordan is reporting that the Beirut explosion was 4.5 on the Richter scale.
     
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2020
    Takao, Aug 4, 2020
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  10. von Poop

    von Poop Waspish

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    Some grown-ups starting to chip in:
    erververbheb.jpg vverve.jpg
     
    von Poop, Aug 4, 2020
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  11. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    Confiscated high explosives? The small explosions set off the big one, probably the cache with the most go-bang.
     
    OpanaPointer, Aug 4, 2020
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  12. Takao

    Takao Ace

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    Yeah, this was repeated again about a year ago.

    At least 2 of the sites were hit by drones last year.
     
    Takao, Aug 4, 2020
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  13. von Poop

    von Poop Waspish

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    von Poop, Aug 4, 2020
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  14. Poppy

    Poppy grasshopper

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    article did mention the unusual red colour of the explosion.
     
    Poppy, Aug 4, 2020
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  15. CAC

    CAC Ace of Spades

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    Reports here are that there are 70 dead, including one Australian. I don't know how the toll isn't way higher...must be many injured. We have a LPG refinery close to Darwin, I can imagine a similar explosion...And if I saw that, I must admit (tactical) nukes would be on my mind...
     
    CAC, Aug 4, 2020
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  16. von Poop

    von Poop Waspish

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    Lebanese PM:
    c.2,750 tons of Ammonium Nitrate unsecured in warehouse for 6 years.
    (Other serious bods saying it fits with that confiscated ship background story.)
    Warning of punishment for officials involved.
    Alongside the deaths, 3000 injured.
     
    von Poop, Aug 4, 2020
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  17. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    Tim McVeigh used ammonium nitrate for his truck bomb.
     
    OpanaPointer, Aug 5, 2020
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  18. A-58

    A-58 Cool Dude

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    I hope that the Beirut Glass Company wasn't located in the vicinity of the blast or shock wave. They're going to make a fortune. There's an upside to everything you know.
     
    A-58, Aug 5, 2020
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  19. ARWR

    ARWR Active Member

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    About 20 years ago I managed a systems review of a firm that made the stuff. One of their main customers was the |Australian mining industry which used to mix it with fuel oil just prior to detonation. Was shipped bagged. . I remember that part of the system that controlled the shipping of the stuff was a very careful check on the ship's manifest etc to ensure that with a mixed cargo it wasn't anywhere near anything that could be mixed with it that could contaminate it and turn it explosive
     
    ARWR, Aug 5, 2020
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  20. von Poop

    von Poop Waspish

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    Definitely the same warehouse.
    Carefully stored. For several years. o_O

    EenPx79XYAIMKvk.jpeg

    When you think what twats like the IRA used to do with a van load of this sort of thing...
     
    von Poop, Aug 5, 2020
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