# Beirut explosion **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 4, 2020, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beirut-explosion/917267 "2020-08-04T18:57:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beirut-explosion/917267/1 "2020-08-04T18:57:51Z")
Found a good article embedding several of the best shots. > **[Beirut is searching for survivors after a massive explosion rocked the...](https://www.businessinsider.com/videos-capture-massive-explosion-that-rocked-lebanons-beirut-2020-8)** > > After a huge explosion shook Beirut's port area on Tuesday, officials were pointing to highly explosive material stored at the port. I wonder what kilotonnage this rates at? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beirut-explosion/917267/2 "2020-08-04T19:26:54Z")
Whatever that tall white building next to the port was, it ain’t anymore! That wasn’t sequential, either, like military ordnance cooking off. That was like a large amount of fertilizer going up. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beirut-explosion/917267/3 "2020-08-04T19:30:19Z")
AP story here: > **[Massive Beirut blast kills more than 70, injures thousands](https://apnews.com/d6503f7d779f2790218fe29121368788)** > > BEIRUT (AP) — A massive explosion rocked Beirut on Tuesday, flattening much of the city's port, damaging buildings across the capital and sending a giant mushroom cloud into the sky... ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beirut-explosion/917267/4 "2020-08-04T19:30:50Z")
I saw reports an hour ago that it was heard 150 miles away in Cyprus. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beirut-explosion/917267/5 "2020-08-04T19:46:12Z")
That first Twitter link the OP’s article is a helluva little video. > Haven’t seen anything like it since the Tianjin blasts in 2015. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beirut-explosion/917267/6 "2020-08-04T19:52:44Z")
Is it fair to estimate that the port of Beirut is bye bye? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beirut-explosion/917267/7 "2020-08-04T20:12:11Z")
It reminded me of stories of the Texas City explosion (fertilizer) back in 1947. I doubt the count of 25 dead will stand…there will be a lot more. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beirut-explosion/917267/8 "2020-08-04T20:16:11Z")
A Lebanese Government official initially said it was a fireworks factory. Now they are saying explosive material stored at a “dangerous warehouse” had blown up. Israel has been saying for years that Hezbolah keep munitions in the Beirut so that’s got to be a possibilty. Israel are denying they had anything to do with this of course. It’s a horrible situation for the hospitals who are already struggling to cope with the pandemic. Now there are reports they are being overwhelmed with casualties. Terrible. Hopefully the port area does not have too many people in it but I fear a very large casualty toll. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beirut-explosion/917267/9 "2020-08-04T20:22:00Z")
I don’t think so. The blast was uncontained, so it dissipated quickly. I had speculated that the tall white building next to the port was gone. Not so. Later shots show it still standing, albeit damaged to the point of “just tear it down.” Lots of human damage, but I think the rest will be kinda superficial, really. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beirut-explosion/917267/10 "2020-08-04T20:22:32Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Whatever that tall white building next to the port was, it ain’t anymore! > > That wasn’t sequential, either, like military ordnance cooking off. That was like a large amount of fertilizer going up. Exactly my thought on seeing video of the second explosion. Lots of orangish red smoke. Which made me think of AN, or storable liquid rocket fuel like N2O4. EDIT: though that would be an insane thing for them to be storing, and wow will there be inhalation casualties. Initial cell phone video (while standing behind glass, LOL Darwin) showed a lot of snap crackle popping within the smoking area of the first explosion. Looked a bit like pyrotechnic shells’ exploding. Or far shots of cluster munitions detonating. Still looked like a lot smaller bang than Tientsin’s port. 50 ton equivalent? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beirut-explosion/917267/11 "2020-08-04T20:33:08Z")
Apparently they confiscated a ship with 2500 tonnes of HE back in 2014 and then just stored it. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beirut-explosion/917267/12 "2020-08-04T20:38:21Z")
In one of the videos, you can see a handful of cars pull over to the side of the highway to watch the initial fire at a “safe” distance…hope they survived. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beirut-explosion/917267/13 "2020-08-04T20:42:43Z")
Ammonium Nitrate Source: > **[The-Arrest-News-11th-issue.pdf](https://shiparrested.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/The-Arrest-News-11th-issue.pdf)** ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beirut-explosion/917267/14 "2020-08-04T21:00:35Z")
Can someone here explain the explosion? I see the initial light colored/grey smoke plume, then there is an initial shock of something that seemed to send a bunch of red stuff skyward, then a dome of white which seemed to be the big one, all in a few seconds. What was the white dome? It’s horrifying, but I am curious. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beirut-explosion/917267/15 "2020-08-04T21:03:06Z")
One of the videos linked in the OP certainly lends credibility to the fireworks as the initial source combustion. Under the smallish white cloud, you can see a series of random white spark flashes going up in various directions. Then the bloody big BOOM! Here is the link: > ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beirut-explosion/917267/16 "2020-08-04T21:06:43Z")
Multiple initial explosions followed by a vaporized fuel-air explosion? The initial explosions would have drawn everybody to the windows of the 20+ story building and they would have been hit with a massive shock wave blowing out the windows and setting the building on fire. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beirut-explosion/917267/17 "2020-08-04T21:10:27Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > … then a dome of white which seemed to be the big one, all in a few seconds. What was the white dome? I believe the white dome is the shock wave which is compressing the air as it travels out. The humidity that is normally in the air gets compressed by this wave and becomes visible water vapor. ---
**Author:** ![Bacon\_Cheeseburger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ebca7d/32.png) [@Bacon\_Cheeseburger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bacon_Cheeseburger)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beirut-explosion/917267/18 "2020-08-04T21:10:45Z")
WAG, looked like something was on fire, then blew up. maybe fuel storage in a port? I’d like to think it an accident, rather than terrorism or military strikes. not that that minimizes the human suffering. ---
**Author:** ![xanthous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/53a042/32.png) [@xanthous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xanthous)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beirut-explosion/917267/19 "2020-08-04T21:23:51Z")
I wonder how many eardrums were blown out? I only think of this now after reading about how loud the Krakatoa eruption was in 1883 (that was much, much, much bigger than this obviously but lots of hearing loss for those nearby and not-so-nearby who survived) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beirut-explosion/917267/20 "2020-08-04T22:09:04Z")
At least 60 dead and 3,000 injured, is the current count. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beirut-explosion/917267.md?page=2)