this was the 3rd strongest explosion in recorded history behind hiroshima and nagasaki... beirut and the lebanese will rise again, but the last 9 months have drained any hope this will happen soon. pls donate to the www.lebaneseredcross.com and help lebanon recover from this catastrophe
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Thankfully it looks like no casualties yet, as the souq (market) was closed due to Covid-19. Summers get really really hot in Middle East, and these explosions might be due to unsafe storing a few months ago as the world transitioned to covid-19 policies pretty fast.
this was the 3rd strongest explosion in recorded history behind hiroshima and nagasaki... beirut and the lebanese will rise again, but the last 9 months have drained any hope this will happen soon. pls donate to the www.lebaneseredcross.com and help lebanon recover from this catastrophe
That can't be right. Halifax was 2.9 kilotons, and even small thermonuclear weapons make Hiroshima and Nagasaki look like tiny RPGs.
That can't be right. Halifax was 2.9 kilotons, and even small thermonuclear weapons make Hiroshima and Nagasaki look like tiny RPGs.
Yes and if you add the various Volcanic eruptions this doesnt likely crack the top 50, the late 50's to mid 60's hydrogen bomb tests were godlike in their scale and there were ten or more of them as I recall, that said I will be donating on behalf on my foster kids
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There's a list of accidental conventional explosives detonations in history on Wikipedia which lists this as the 6th strongest. That doesn't account for any nuclear explosions or nuclear tests. So yeah, definitely not the 3rd strongest.
On 20 Nov 13, the Moldovan-flagged freighter, Rhosus, arrived in Beirut to offload agricultural machines. The Rhosus also carried 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate (AN). Its journey started in Georgia and was to deliver the AN to Mozambigue for a fee of $1,000,000.00 paid by the Banco Internacional De Mozambique. The Beirut port authorities inspected the Rhosus and decided the freighter was not seaworthy. Allegedly, the crew hadn't been paid and were on the verge of mutiny. The authorities thus prevented the ship from sailing. The port authorities transferred the cargo into Warehouse 12. Later, the authorities confiscated the cargo due to bills unpaid by the ship’s owner. Alas, a Russian businessman, Igor Grechushkin, actually leased this boat for this delivery. He basically abandoned the ship in Beirut and hasn't been heard from since, although it is believed he lives in Cyprus.
As we all know now, the AN remained in the warehouse for over six years. Warehouse 12 was of metal construction and did not have proper ventilation and was subject to the Lebanese weather, which includes suffocating heat in the summer.
Oddly, there was never any attempt to relocate it or resell the AN. The ship’s captain even suggested the fertilizer should be given to farmers for free. Instead, nothing was done and, presumably, someone paid the storage costs at the port. Customs chief Badri Daher states that six requests were sent to the Lebanese Judiciary to relocate the AN and all requests were denied/ignored.
Last year, Captain Naddaf, who works at the harbour with the National Security Service, called his superior to inform him about the presence of a “dangerous cargo at warehouse 12”. His superior officer, instructed the officer to provide a written report and take pictures of the warehouse and the contents. The warehouse construction had a breach big enough for the passage of a man, which would facilitate entry or even theft. The Captain wrote that “in case of explosion it would destroy the harbour... and beyond and should be removed."
On 4 Aug 20, a contractor (a “blacksmith”) arrived at the port to repair (ie, close the holes) the warehouse. The contractor was not informed about the hazardous content of the warehouse, nor was he told to take any necessary precautions. He was working at a distance very close to the AN bags that were lying on the floor. The contractor completed his work between 1630 and 1700 local. Witnesses then observed smoke coming from Warehouse 12. Firemen/civil defence were called to deal with the fire. Those firemen are presumed dead – only the female’s body has so far been recovered.
Several port officials are currently under house arrest and the contractor has been detained for questioning.
Elijah Magnier, a journalist specializing in the Middle East, now states that his sources say it was old ammunition cooking off, and not fireworks. Apparently the ammunition had been co-located within/next to Warehouse 12 “for years”.
On 20 Nov 13, the Moldovan-flagged freighter, Rhosus, arrived in Beirut to offload agricultural machines. The Rhosus also carried 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate (AN). Its journey started in Georgia and was to deliver the AN to Mozambigue for a fee of $1,000,000.00 paid by the Banco Internacional De Mozambique. The Beirut port authorities inspected the Rhosus and decided the freighter was not seaworthy. Allegedly, the crew hadn't been paid and were on the verge of mutiny. The authorities thus prevented the ship from sailing. The port authorities transferred the cargo into Warehouse 12. Later, the authorities confiscated the cargo due to bills unpaid by the ship’s owner. Alas, a Russian businessman, Igor Grechushkin, actually leased this boat for this delivery. He basically abandoned the ship in Beirut and hasn't been heard from since, although it is believed he lives in Cyprus.
As we all know now, the AN remained in the warehouse for over six years. Warehouse 12 was of metal construction and did not have proper ventilation and was subject to the Lebanese weather, which includes suffocating heat in the summer.
Oddly, there was never any attempt to relocate it or resell the AN. The ship’s captain even suggested the fertilizer should be given to farmers for free. Instead, nothing was done and, presumably, someone paid the storage costs at the port. Customs chief Badri Daher states that six requests were sent to the Lebanese Judiciary to relocate the AN and all requests were denied/ignored.
Last year, Captain Naddaf, who works at the harbour with the National Security Service, called his superior to inform him about the presence of a “dangerous cargo at warehouse 12”. His superior officer, instructed the officer to provide a written report and take pictures of the warehouse and the contents. The warehouse construction had a breach big enough for the passage of a man, which would facilitate entry or even theft. The Captain wrote that “in case of explosion it would destroy the harbour... and beyond and should be removed."
On 4 Aug 20, a contractor (a “blacksmith”) arrived at the port to repair (ie, close the holes) the warehouse. The contractor was not informed about the hazardous content of the warehouse, nor was he told to take any necessary precautions. He was working at a distance very close to the AN bags that were lying on the floor. The contractor completed his work between 1630 and 1700 local. Witnesses then observed smoke coming from Warehouse 12. Firemen/civil defence were called to deal with the fire. Those firemen are presumed dead – only the female’s body has so far been recovered.
Several port officials are currently under house arrest and the contractor has been detained for questioning.
Elijah Magnier, a journalist specializing in the Middle East, now states that his sources say it was old ammunition cooking off, and not fireworks. Apparently the ammunition had been co-located within/next to Warehouse 12 “for years”.