Explosion in Beirut, The Rhosus and Hanger 12

[painter777]

I've read and heard a lot of mis-information about this, this Link to the New York Times article from Yahoo sums up the multiple inactions that lead to this:
Blame for Beirut Explosion Begins With a Leaky, Troubled Ship

Here is a short version,

The Rhosus, which flew the flag of Moldova, arrived in Beirut in November 2013, two months after it left the Black Sea port of Batumi, Georgia. The ship was leased by Igor Grechushkin, a Russian businessman living in Cyprus.Prokoshev, the captain, joined the ship in Turkey after a mutiny over unpaid wages by a previous crew. Grechushkin had been paid $1 million to transport the high-density ammonium nitrate to the port of Beira in Mozambique, the captain said.

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.
“In view of the serious danger posed by keeping this shipment in the warehouses in an inappropriate climate,” Shafik Marei, the director of Lebanese customs, wrote in May 2016, “we repeat our request to demand the maritime agency to re-export the materials immediately.”
The customs officials proposed a number of solutions, including donating the ammonium nitrate to the Lebanese army or selling it to the privately owned Lebanese Explosives Co. Marei sent a second, similar letter a year later. The judiciary failed to respond to any of his pleas, the records suggested.


The ammonium nitrate was purchased by the International Bank of Mozambique for Fábrica de Explosivos de Moçambique, a firm that makes commercial explosives, according to Baroudi and Partners, a Lebanese law firm representing the ship’s crew, in a statement issued Wednesday.
Grechushkin, who was in Cyprus at the time and communicating by telephone, told the captain he didn’t have enough money to pay for passage through the Suez Canal. So he sent the ship to Beirut to earn some cash by taking on an additional cargo of heavy machinery.


But in Beirut, the machinery would not fit into the ship, which was about 30 or 40 years old, the captain said.
Then Lebanese officials found the ship unseaworthy and impounded the vessel for failing to pay the port docking fees and other charges. When the ship’s suppliers tried to contact Grechushkin for payment for fuel, food and other essentials, he could not be reached, having apparently abandoned the ship he had leased.

The crew’s departure left the Lebanese authorities in charge of the ship’s deadly cargo, which was moved to a storage facility known as Hangar 12, where it remained until the explosion Tuesday.


The general manager of Beirut’s port, Hassan Koraytem, said in an interview that customs and security officials made repeated requests to Lebanon’s courts to have the volatile material moved. “But nothing happened,” he said.
“We were told the cargo would be sold in an auction,” he added. “But the auction never happened, and the judiciary never acted.”


But for many Lebanese, the story is another sign of the chronic mismanagement of a ruling class that steered the country into a punishing economic crisis this year.
Captain Prokoshev, who said he is still owed $60,000 in wages, placed the fault with Grechushkin, and with Lebanese officials, who insisted on first impounding the boat and then on keeping the ammonium nitrate in the port “instead of spreading it on their fields.”
“They could have had very good crops instead of a huge explosion,” he said.
As for the Rhosus, Prokoshev learned from friends who sailed to Beirut that it had sunk in the harbor in 2015 or 2016 after taking water on board, he said.

No Politics here, so I wouldn't expect this to be Locked Down.
Like most when I first heard about this, I thought some type of bombing, terrorist, air strike ... etc.
You know the ole Would of, Could of, Should of ??

I've read that many of the surrounding Hangers that were destroyed held as much as 85% of The City's total grain supply. Now trying to deal with the homeless and hungry citizens. I believe this is a ticking time bomb.
Also I've read 20%+ of the casualties are children.
The USA, among the first to respond, has already dispatched three C-17's filled with med eqpt/supplies

Matthew 5:9

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Aragorn243]

Best information I've seen on this yet. Ship must have been a piece of work to take two months to cross the Black Sea and go around Turkey. Should have been a couple of weeks I would think.

[painter777]

The Captain said it had a hole in the hull that required constant pumping. I believe he stated it was 30-40 years old.

I found this video with a Explosives expert who breaks it down pretty nicely (the guy in Blue) The other guy (The Jim Carey wanna be) should have stayed home.
If you can get thru the first BS, it's helpful, after guy in blue is done with his explanation most of it to the end is just more BS.
Anyway here it is:

[painter777]

Original Shipment Designation:
Mozambique denies knowledge of ship tied to explosion

Mozambican port authorities denied any knowledge of the ship carrying the cargo of ammonium nitrate said to have caused the devastating explosion in Beirut.

They were reacting to widespread reports that the ammonium nitrate had arrived in Lebanon in 2013 on board a Moldovan-flagged ship sailing from Georgia and bound for the central port city of Beira.

"The port operator was not aware that the vessel MV Rhosus would dock at the port of Beira," the Beira ports authority said in a statement.

Tables Turned:

Lebanon central bank freezes accounts of port, customs officials

Lebanon's central bank has ordered a freeze on the accounts of the heads of Beirut Port and Lebanese Customs Officials along with others, according to a central bank directive seen by Reuters news agency and confirmed by the central bank.
The directive, dated August 6 and coming from the central bank special investigation commission for money laundering and terrorism fighting, said the decision would be circulated to all banks and financial institutions in Lebanon.
Though it looks as though it was the inactions by the Lebanese courts that in the end led to the AN still being stored there.
It was the Port and Customs officials that were seeking guidance from the Courts to resolve the storage problem.
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.“In view of the serious danger posed by keeping this shipment in the warehouses in an inappropriate climate,” Shafik Marei, the director of Lebanese customs, wrote in May 2016, “we repeat our request to demand the maritime agency to re-export the materials immediately.”

The customs officials proposed a number of solutions, including donating the ammonium nitrate to the Lebanese army or selling it to the privately owned Lebanese Explosives Co. Marei sent a second, similar letter a year later. The judiciary failed to respond to any of his pleas, the records suggested.

But the Central Bank Freezes the Port and Customs officials personal funds, this includes workers.
Also many Port and Customs workers have been detained by order of............ Lebanon's military court !!
Reports say up to 20 being held, maybe more.
Someone set off the first blast that was caused by a fire. This isn't the US with NO Bond to Post, Some will hang when ruled Guilty.
Citizens can not access their bank accounts which are frozen/locked by the Government.
So figure in being P!ssed off, Hungry, Homeless and Broke all while trying to fight off the Covid and having over 1,5 million refugees in country from the Syrian civil war. Protests are building...... Tear gas in the streets ... etc.
The next 'Bomb' is ticking and I fear it will be larger.

Seems the Courts can do as they please and don't have to answer to anyone. Sounds familiar doesn't it ?

On a Good Note many countries are coming together to help. The citizens will remember these efforts and be Thankful. Question now is will the Government do likewise ?

Good Weekend All.
Charlie-P777

[browningautorifle]

high-density ammonium nitrate

That'll do it...

[Ovidio]

I’ve been in Beirut plenty of times starting in 1997. The port has always been a shi-ite dominion.
No wonder it was packed with weapons and explosives. Everybodu knew or suspected at least.
The UN forces there can only look and not intervene. Phoney, pilatesque way of handling a similar situation.
Israel treated like the terrorists from Hezbollah, so no-one acts.
Iran packs her allies with weapons and keeps the whole ragion under its threat.
And the so called democracies just stay silent. It would be politically incorrect to point out how things are.
I’m so glad I could travel through that region so much. That helps understanding things.
But now let’s stop, because it would get too politycal...

[Youngblood]

2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate ... 6,050,000 pounds!

The crater is ~140 meters in diameter.

[Aragorn243]

So how does that equate to the bomb dropped on Hiroshima? Obviously smaller but they say they have pinpoint small yield nukes now also Are they that small?

[bombdoc]

Estimates based on crater size etc that I have seen from reliable sources seem to indicate a detonating mass of around 1,200 tons of AN. This would make sense as the event was sub optimal, and much of the AN would have got burned off before the remainder high ordered. The presence of red smoke is a good indicator of nitrates in the mix as nitrous oxide is red.

There has been speculation that the event was triggered by "fireworks". I would think this was unlikely (..although not impossible) as you really need a detonation to trigger AN. From what I could see, it looked like what would be categorised as a 1.2 event which is what you typically get in fires with medium capacity ammunition such as mortars and grenades. These will detonate, but usually sporadically as there is not enough filling density to sustain a mass detonation wave. Given the geographical location, I would think the chances of there being shaped charges present such as RPG ammunition, could however have led to the triggering of the AN. Correct ammunition storage practice mandates the separation of these different classes so that you do not get the escalation and propagation that you see in this event.

AN is usually manufactured in granular form known as "prills". These allow the AN to flow, reduce the density and makes the material hard to sustain a detonating shock wave. If it is allowed to stand and temperature cycle, the mass will tend to compact and fuze, making it easier for a shockwave to propagate. If does not however make the AN capable of self detonation. You still need to hit it hard to get it to high order..

[mrclark303]

It was an appalling incident, one that looks 'possibly' unlikely to be an accident....

I wonder if a certain interested foreign operator detonated this consignment?

Considering (if this was the case) they must have run the numbers and had an idea of level of destruction if rigged to blow?

The idea of detonating this in a city is absolutely appalling, let's hope there's another explanation, perhaps local militias group spat and fire fight with disasterous results?