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Abstract
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Destroyed port after the massive explosion in Beirut, Lebanon.
The explosion has generated an enormous amount of debris across the city, including glass and dust.Credit: Hassan Ammar/AP/Shutterstock
More than 2 weeks have passed since an explosion of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate killed more than 160 people in Beirut. The chemical had been stored in a warehouse near the city's cargo port for almost six years, after being seized from a ship that became stranded there because of technical problems.
An investigation into exactly what triggered the blast on 4 August is under way, but according to Najat Saliba, an analytical chemist at the American University of Beirut, it is being conducted by the Lebanese army, and it is unclear whether the results will be made public.
What information do we have so far about why the explosion happened?
We know that the explosion involved a large quantity of ammonium nitrate. Some assumed that the reddish plumes of smoke suggested that the explosion is not related to ammonium nitrate. But if you look at the Texas City explosion of 1947 and other ammonium nitrate explosions, all of them exhibited the same coloured gas.
As a chemistry researcher, I also know that ammonium nitrate can usually be stored for a long time, and that it cannot explode on its own -- there needs to be a detonation.
What questions should the investigators be asking?
I would want to know about the conditions in which the ammonium nitrate was stored. Was it stored in a proper container that is blast-proof? Was there fuel stored next to this container that represented a major hazard? And what compliance mechanisms did the authorities put in place -- what kinds of checks every year or every month -- to make sure that the site was safe?
There will have been compliance standards that the government is obliged to follow, regarding the chemical, how it is stored, other dangerous hazards nearby and the risks to populations...
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