Massive Explosion at Beirut Port

You'd think it might, but the buildings on the other side of it seem to have been flattened like everything else. I don't know much about the propagation of shock waves, but apparently it spread? flowed? around the silo structure. I'm surprised the silos held up as much as they did.

 

As the blast rippled out a huge vacuum would be created and then filled with a massive inrush of air which could cause as much damage. Similar effects were noted on a smaller scale in WW2 with the V1 and V2 and on a larger one with the first nuclear tests. So even if the silos provided some initial shelter anything in their lee would still be hit.

 

Mental health issues resolved, let's get back on topic.

Amazing video here, a bride's wedding photo shoot was interrupted by the blast. Video quality is amazing.

 

...probably solidly built....not to say there aren't any structural problems now ..high structure needing ''extra'' building codes?

 

Very definitely on message. A recent report states that the G0 crater is of WW1 proportions. Visiting the Lochnagar mine crater south of La Boisselle years ago late one October my stick slipped in the mud and I very nearly went in head first. That thing is big, the ones at Messines Ridge are bigger but water filled so make nice lakes and you can't visualise how big they are. Beirut will bear the scars for generations.

 

Agreed it could take awhile to repair considering the state of the Lebanese government but I do think it will get fixed as unlike other craters this is a vital area for Lebanon and is needed in the long run.

 

Probably simpler to turn it into an ornamental lake (or lagoon) and rebuild the port around it.

 

In a western wealthy country that might be true as some kind of memorial to the dead and injured, but that does not take into account the grain silo and its contents which cannot be used for food any longer, nor the silo easily disposed of. They would both make decent fill for the crater and the government will be strapped for funds to rebuild.

 

Regime change,New government invites China in.Port rebuilt.Could be an opportunity for the US to jump in and change a little bit of the dynamic in the ME. Probably not.

 

Just in case anyone has missed this this BBC item gives a good idea of how big it was
Beirut: Anatomy of a lethal explosion

 

Any reliable update on the casualty count in yet? I'm sure many were vaporized and no accuracy can be expected.

 

The official count of bodies found and injured died is already past the 200 mark

 

And I'm sure the count will continue to climb sadly.

 

A senior Beirut journalist on the Beeb today was saying that the corruption and incompetence dated from when government responsibilities were shared out on sectarian lines as part of the Lebanese peace process at the end of their civil war. I wonder if any Northern Irish politicians were listening?

 

I wonder how many people were in the vicinity? There might not be many in a warehouse unless something was being handled, and they might have cleared the area when the smaller explosions started. Were firefighters coming in to the site?

 

Yes - the first confirmed victim was a woman fire fighter

 

Captain astonished that his ship delivered Beirut explosive

MOSCOW (AP) — When Boris Prokoshev, a former sea captain spending his retirement years in a Russian village, woke up and found an email saying a ship he once commanded had carried the ammonium nitrate that blew up swathes of Beirut, he was astonished.

“I didn’t understand anything,” he told The Associated Press on Thursday from Verkhnee Buu, 1300 kilometers (800 miles) south of Moscow.

The email was from a journalist, he said, and titled with the name of the MV Rhosus, which he had captained on a voyage that he was never paid.

The 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate that blew up in Beirut’s port on Tuesday — killing 135 people, injuring more than 5,000 and causing widespread destruction — wasn’t supposed to have been in Lebanon at all. When the Rhosus set sail from the Georgian Black Sea port of Batumi, it was bound for the Mozambican port of Beira.

The ship made a stop in Beirut to try to earn extra money by taking on several pieces of heavy machinery. But that additional cargo proved too heavy for the Rhosus and the crew refused to take it on. The Rhosus was soon impounded by the Lebanese authorities for failing to pay port fees, and never left the port again.

At some point he sold some of the fuel and used the cash to hire lawyers, who got the crew released on compassionate grounds in 2014.

the cargo was transferred to a port warehouse only after the crew disembarked and headed back to Ukraine in 2014, Prokoshev said. It remained there ever since -- until it detonated on Tuesday.

Blame for Beirut Explosion Begins With a Leaky, Troubled Ship

Senior customs officials wrote to the Lebanese courts at least six times from 2014 to 2017, seeking guidance on how to dispose of the ammonium nitrate, according to public records posted to social media by a Lebanese lawmaker, Salim Aoun.

-------------------

• Boris Prokoshev was at the helm of tanker Rhosus in 2013, when it had to make an emergency stop in Beirut after engine and navigation issues
• Lebanese detained ship and Prokoshev for a year, before seizing chemical cargo
• Prokoshev wrote to Vladimir Putin during detention, warning of 'powder keg'
• 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded this week, killing at least 137 people
  
  Captain of ship that carried explosives to Lebanon says he warned of dangers | Daily Mail Online

He was officially told that his appeal for Putin to act over the ship had been passed to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

He said the consul in Beirut had mocked him asking: 'What do you want - Putin to send special forces to be released here by force?'

Eventually the crew were allowed to go home after they successfully mounted a legal challenge in Beirut claiming that they were being detained illegally.

Then the ammonium nitrate was 'unloaded to the warehouse, under the responsibility of the (Lebanese) Ministry of Transport,' the captain told MailOnline.



.

 

Beirut blast blamed on welder accidentally setting 2k tonnes of chemical alight

A preliminary investigation revealed Tuesday's blast occurred after a fire was sparked by someone welding a small hole to prevent theft from the warehouse, the Lebanese TV station LBCI reported.

 

Catching up being from "across the water". So first an excellent report on why the ship was there: A Hidden Tycoon, African Explosives, and a Loan from a Notorious Bank: Questionable Connections Surround Beirut Explosion Shipment - OCCRP

I know there is a post from the NYT on the ship's captain, here is a BBC interview of him: Beirut explosion: Captain explains why Rhosus was in Beirut

What gets little attention is that the port is politically controlled by Hezbollah, who would have no interest in such material. I jest.