Beirut Explosion

[thirteen28]

Massive!
Overwhelming!
Stupendous!
Surreal!
Alarming!
Dangerous!


Did I miss any?

 

[12intheBox]

Massive!
Overwhelming!
Stupendous!
Surreal!
Alarming!
Dangerous!


Did I miss any?

You missed tragic.

 

[RamsFanCK]

Yeah, pretty sure it was fireworks.

kinda mirrors the fireworks factory explosion in China



I dunno, maybe it is some kind of attack, but it def started as a fire and then something exploded MORE than could be stored in a single truck.

The massive explosion in Waco in 2013 was only felt 30 miles away. This one was felt 6 times further way. That's an exponentially bigger blast.

That video is intense! The contrast at night is hellish

 

[bluecoconuts]

Apparently they had over 2,500 tons of nitrate stored that blew up.

In Iraq 08 there was a similar incident where insurgents set off 25 tons of nitrate and I was part of the QRF response team, didn't know what caused the explosion that until I saw this tweet.



Crazy shit, I remember it being total chaos on the ground, lots of dead and wounded, just a giant hole where a building used to be and flattened/destroyed buildings for blocks.

 

[Mackeyser]

The number of dead seems low for such a massive explosion. I've seen 30 and 50, but it'll probably be much higher with estimates of at least 3000 injured. That's also likely to be higher.

At least so far, it just seems to be an industrial accident and not a terrorist incident which would only make this worse.

 

[Mackeyser]

Apparently they had over 2,500 tons of nitrate stored that blew up.

In Iraq 08 there was a similar incident where insurgents set off 25 tons of nitrate and I was part of the QRF response team, didn't know what caused the explosion that until I saw this tweet.



Crazy shit, I remember it being total chaos on the ground, lots of dead and wounded, just a giant hole where a building used to be and flattened/destroyed buildings for blocks.

View attachment 37975

Wow, thanks for sharing that.

Gives perspective that in Beirut, there was 100 TIMES more Nitrate. I can't fully grasp the devastation.

 

[OC--LeftCoast]

One hell of a shock wave (immediately ruling out fireworks) would have certainly concussed Brandin Cooks had he been a mere two miles away

Sure had the fuel air look, not sure I’m going to buy into the first 72 hours of cover stories regarding accident or not

Wouldn't be shocked if this was some kind of stupid attack

 

[12intheBox]

Now it sounds like it may not have been an attack at all?

 

[Mackeyser]

One hell of a shock wave (immediately ruling out fireworks) would have certainly concussed Brandin Cooks had he been a mere two miles away

Sure had the fuel air look, not sure I’m going to buy into the first 72 hours of cover stories

Brandin Cooks - Hey! What did I do???

 

[OC--LeftCoast]

Brandin Cooks - Hey! What did I do???

lol, I don’t even know why that came up...tho there are many, many folks in that AO that had their teeth severely rattled

 

[Mackeyser]

Now it sounds like it may not have been an attack at all?

Nah. This is an uncomfortable truth about many ports... they store the nitrates at the port and apparently they also had a grain storage facility next door. That allows that berthing to be multipurpose, but the combo is obviously not good in the case anything goes wrong.

Ask any farmer who's got a grain silo and the LAST thing they'd ever do is store something as flammable as ammonium nitrate near it.

I dunno, either, but I really hope that it ends up just being neglect of some kind.

The last thing we need in 2020 is an explosion like this starting a new round of violence.

I mean even the murder hornets went "yeah, F 2020" and bounced...

 

[Mackeyser]

lol, I don’t even know why that came up...tho there are many, many folks in that AO that had their teeth severely rattled

AO?

Anyway, no doubt. That video filmed from inside the car? Holy smokes... That's a blast that probably did knock people like you see in the movies...literally out of their shoes...

I do not envy the tinnitus the folks who were close are gonna experience in the coming weeks. Hopefully, most of the injuries were minor.

 

[OC--LeftCoast]

AO?

Anyway, no doubt. That video filmed from inside the car? Holy smokes... That's a blast that probably did knock people like you see in the movies...literally out of their shoes...

I do not envy the tinnitus the folks who were close are gonna experience in the coming weeks. Hopefully, most of the injuries were minor.

sorry, that was rude of me

AO is low level soldier slang for Area of Operation

that was many, many moons ago

that was certainly a massive shock wave

 

[Mackeyser]

sorry, that was rude of me

AO is low level soldier slang for Area of Operation

that was many, many moons ago

that was certainly a massive shock wave

No worries. But yeah...massive. I've seen a couple of videos from closer... the one from inside the car and another from a boat trying to drive away and it got caught. Video ends when the shockwave hits the boat. Hope it just rocked the boat and didn't capsize it or crunch the hull.

 

[12intheBox]

View: https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1290830442124447745?s=20

 

[kurtfaulk]

.

Man, talk about meeting your maker. When you see buildings explode this guy didn't stand a chance.


View: https://twitter.com/majdkhalaf1993/status/1290756807909089280?s=20


.

 

[OC--LeftCoast]

View: https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1290830442124447745?s=20

Not seeing shattered glass at all...Rex... why do people feel the need to embellish?

But good job by the adult to get the little girl out of harms way as quickly as she could

 

[thirteen28]

You missed tragic.

I think you probably missed what I was saying ...

I'm just a bit skeptical that this was just some random industrial accident.

And I'm just spitballing here, but thinking about the amount of amoninum nitrate they are reporting - 2500 TONS - it seems like, as big as the explosion was, it would have been even bigger flattened a wider radius of its surroundings. But again, that's just spitballing by me, so take it with a big grain of salt.

Either way, I'm going to apply the 48-hour rule before I let my skepticism of initial reports die down.

 

[1maGoh]

Not seeing shattered glass at all...Rex... why do people feel the need to embellish?

But good job by the adult to get the little girl out of harms way as quickly as she could

I think it was an assumption that those were windows and that the lady wasn't vacuuming a carpeted outdoor patio... Which apparently she was.

 

[12intheBox]

View: https://twitter.com/gbrumfiel/status/1290827474088140800?s=20