The Off Topic Topic

[Josephus]

Happy Civic Holiday, Canadians (in places where some variation of Civic Holiday is celebrated) ; I hope your day was extra civic. 

Oh was that this weekend?

[Duque de Bragança]

Footage of a huge explosion in Beirut - which looks terrifying:
https://twitter.com/HeshmatAlavi/status/1290671166429057028?s=20

Apparently in the docks/warehouse area.

As if Beirut, or Lebanon for that matter, had not enough trouble...

[Valmy]

In the warehouse area? Could it have been some kind of industrial accident then? I mean...maybe wishful thinking there.

[Sheilbh]

In the warehouse area? Could it have been some kind of industrial accident then? I mean...maybe wishful thinking there.

Lord knows at this point because this sort of moment is when Twitter is at its most/least useful in terms of spreading non-facts and real information with extraordinary speed.

The Lebanese media and CNN are reporting that the source was an industrial fire near a warehouse of fireworks, which sounds ridiculous but feels possible in Beirut

There's also the sound of multiple little fires which lend it a bit of credence, or maybe ammo?

Edit: Eg - this thread of statements at the minute sound like both ridiculous implausibilities and very possible, "only in Lebanon" set of scenarios that leads to a lot of sodium nitrate being stored in a warehouse:

Ragıp Soylu
@ragipsoylu
·
22m
BREAKING — Director-General of the Lebanese Public Security: What happened [in Beirut] is not a fireworks explosion, but a high-explosive material that was confiscated for years  — Al Jazeera
JUST IN: Lebanese PM's wife, daughter and consultants were slightly injured in Beirut explosions, per LBCI
BREAKING — The Beirut explosion caused by highly explosive sodium nitrate confiscated from a ship more than a year ago and were placed in one of the warehouses located in the port — Sources to LBCI

By a Turkish correspondent for Middle EAst Eye who just seems to be repeating current statements rather than adding speculation/misinformation - which I'm doing instead

[HisMajestyBOB]

The ship full of ammonium nitrate, docked next to the fireworks warehouse and the grain silo, in the High Explosives district.

[Sheilbh]

The footage of buildings some distance from the explosion is awful and I read (from LBCI) that firefighters and ambulances only recently got to the scene because the army had to use bulldozers to clear a path. Horrible

[HisMajestyBOB]

It's similar to that explosion in Tianjin a few years back.
Not great for Lebanon. And now lots of rumors that various group s are behind it.

[Sheilbh]

Not great for Lebanon. And now lots of rumors that various group s are behind it.

Yeah. Regardless of the cause it looks like the entire port might need to be rebuilt which, I imagine is hugely important for Lebanon's economy.

And yes - this is the best of social media in terms of spreading the news about this and the ability to share videos of the scene which raises all of our awareness (crazy to think that even a decade ago this probably would still just be a breaking news update rather than what it is now). But also the worse - insane number of rumours, including from prominent people about every group remotely involved in Lebanon (Israel, Hezbollah, the full works) or that it's a nuclear bomb or a thermobaric airstrike. All of which at this moment is just really unhelpful speculation.

[Razgovory]

Looks similar to the Texas City Explosion.  A ship with Ammonium nitrate exploded in the port of Texas city back in the 1940's.  Destroyed a good portion of the city and killed hundreds.  That blast was the equivalent of the small nuke going off, and I imagine the yield will be similar here.

[Malthus]

In the warehouse area? Could it have been some kind of industrial accident then? I mean...maybe wishful thinking there.

Early reports are that it was indeed an industrial accident.

Allegedly, a fireworks storage area caught fire, and it set off some ammonium nitrate stored in the port as well. The ammonium nitrate made the big explosion.

A devastating tragedy for a nation already hard-hit. 😟

[HVC]

Happy Civic Holiday, Canadians (in places where some variation of Civic Holiday is celebrated) ; I hope your day was extra civic. 

Oh was that this weekend?

Stupid fake Mondays suck. long weekends with a Monday off are barely worth it. next week is 5 days of work in 4 days

[Valmy]

In the warehouse area? Could it have been some kind of industrial accident then? I mean...maybe wishful thinking there.

Early reports are that it was indeed an industrial accident.

Allegedly, a fireworks storage area caught fire, and it set off some ammonium nitrate stored in the port as well. The ammonium nitrate made the big explosion.

A devastating tragedy for a nation already hard-hit. 😟

True but much better than a planted bomb by one of the country's political sects.

I can only hope the casualty list is short.

[Sheilbh]

In the warehouse area? Could it have been some kind of industrial accident then? I mean...maybe wishful thinking there.

Early reports are that it was indeed an industrial accident.

Allegedly, a fireworks storage area caught fire, and it set off some ammonium nitrate stored in the port as well. The ammonium nitrate made the big explosion.

A devastating tragedy for a nation already hard-hit. 😟

True but much better than a planted bomb by one of the country's political sects.

I can only hope the casualty list is short.

Apparently early figures are 70 dead and thousands injured

[HisMajestyBOB]

From people citing sources on Twitter: the ammonium nitrate (2,700 tons) had been confiscated and held by the Lebanese govt for 7 years, and the fire and explosion occurred when someone "welded a small hole to prevent theft".

[Malthus]

From people citing sources on Twitter: the ammonium nitrate (2,700 tons) had been confiscated and held by the Lebanese govt for 7 years, and the fire and explosion occurred when someone "welded a small hole to prevent theft".

Well, the good news is: theft will no longer be a problem at that facility.