A new angle has been discovered on the Aug. 4 Beirut explosion. An explosives expert told Daily Mail UK that the mega explosion was not the chemical called Ammonium Nitrate, it was due to burning military missiles. There is still no confirmation if this claim is valid or not.
What's the cause of the explosion?
If the Beirut explosion was due to explosive Ammonium Nitrate chemical, the smoke's color should be yellow. That is the claim of explosives expert Danilo Coppe.
One of the United Kingdom's leading bomb experts said that the smoke's color determines what kinds of hazardous material have been burning in an area. In the case of the Beirut explosion, the color was unmistakeably orange. Coppe claims that the color orange smoke usually happens when military missiles are burning.
"There should have been a catalyst because otherwise it wouldn't all have exploded together," he said. "You can clearly see a brick orange column tending to bright red, typical of lithium participation. Which in the form of lithium-metal is the propellant for military missiles. I think there were armaments there."
Coppe explains that the fire may have reached other places in the area wherein the armaments might be placed, triggering the orange smoke. It was not clear whether he assumes that the military gears were deliberately set on fire or not.
Tech Times reported that 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate were the main cause of the mega explosion. The country's President Michel Aoun confirmed this info. Reportedly, the chemical has been long stored inside the port without being moved to another less hazardous area. The explosion was the main effect.
Beirut explosion update
Last Tuesday, Aug. 4, was one of the shocking days for Lebanese people. Over 150 people now recorded as deceased due to the explosion. More than 6,000 people were left injured in hospitals. The incident left a 43-meter deep crater that lies near a granary destroyed in the blast, filled with seawater, according to Al Jazeera.
Donations for the rehabilitation of the area and the victims are now pouring for Lebanon. Even the United States President Donald Trump pledged 'substantial' aid to Lebanon, which amount was not specified.
"On a humanitarian basis, we have to do it. We have to do it. It's, you know, you can almost say how does a country survive such a tragedy? This was at a level that people over there, they said, is at a level that we've never seen before."
Due to protests about the explosion, Lebanon's Justice Minister Marie Claude Najm, Information Minister Manal Abdel Samad, and Environment Minister Damianos Kattar were forced to resign.
ALSO READ: Four Explosions Within 24 Hours: Here's What Happened in Lebanon, China, North Korea, and the UK
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Written by Jamie Pancho
