Information Minister Manal Abdel Samad became the first government minister to resign in the wake of the blast, five days after it took place. She apologized to the people of Beirut for failing them. Visit the new DW website Take a look at the beta version of dw. Go to the new dw.
More info OK. Wrong language? Change it here DW. COM has chosen English as your language setting. COM in 30 languages. Deutsche Welle. Audiotrainer Deutschtrainer Die Bienenretter. News Beirut explosion: What makes ammonium nitrate so dangerous? Read more: 'Apocalyptic' scenes as Lebanon reels from trauma and rage The blast was so powerful that it could be heard in Cyprus, about kilometers miles to the west, media reported. What is ammonium nitrate? The port was completely destroyed by the explosion.
The explosion in Tianjin caused widespread destruction in the city. Date DW News on Facebook In addition to the large ground crater, the explosion created a massive red-orange smoke plume surrounded by a white mushroom pressure cloud.
The produced pressure was equivalent to a 3. Those experiencing the blast felt the earth shake prior to the arrival of the blast wave. In addition to the destruction of most of Beirut port and its grain silos concrete structure, the explosion heavily damaged 50, residential houses, along with schools and 9 hospitals, including a children's specialized hospital.
Understanding the common types of injuries associated with blasts is essential to developing an appropriate emergency response and treatment plan.
Injuries were characterized and classified into primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary injuries with a particular focus on the neurological manifestations and long-term detrimental outcomes of blast brain injuries.
The unique characteristics of the Beirut disaster imposed a series of challenges to local tertiary hospitals ranging from the provision of acute care and management to the mass casualties to the anticipation of the chronic effects of the blast overpressure and toxic gas exposure.
The key challenge that AUBMC faced along with other neighboring hospitals is the urgent need to continue its provision of service and adequate disaster response despite suffering from partial structural damages and sustaining injuries among its hospital staff. Further to dealing with its own emergency situation, the hospital received nearly victims in its capacity Emergency Department ED. Of those, were treated and released at ED, were admitted and 9 were dead on arrival In the 3 days following the explosion, 68 operations were performed on admitted patients.
The greatest diagnostic challenges for the hospital clinicians at all levels of care in the aftermath of the disaster was dealing with the large numbers of casualties and multiple penetrating injuries. Despite activation of the hospital disaster plan, patients presented at a scale much larger than what the hospital resources and capacity could accommodate. Electronic health systems failed to accommodate the surge of patients.
The overwhelming surge of injuries hindered formal documentation of patient records; many injured presented without identification. These difficulties to overcome using interim triage and on-site informal record keeping were adopted to achieve effective emergency care Almost all Port of Beirut employees along with the deployed firefighters at the blast scene died instantly due to their severe injuries.
Beirut residents suffered from multiple mechanisms of injuries within a radius of 6 miles from the epicenter and were affected by a mushroom-like cloud of ammonium nitrate Figure 4.
Upon the detonation of Beirut explosive, the initial blast wave produced a millisecond-long supersonic positive pressure gradient wave subsequent to a lengthier negative pressure that expanded outwardly from the blast epicenter across Beirut residential areas 21 , Thousands of Beirut disaster victims presented to local hospitals for injury acute management.
These victims experienced various mechanisms of blast injuries caused by the explosion pressure and heat wave. The reported injuries align with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC classification of blast injury 23 , 24 and were classified into:. Figure 4. Radius depicting the damages affecting individuals residing at various geographic distances from the blast ranging from 8, to 45, and reaching out to 54, individuals across the Beirut metropolis. Victims sustained deep penetrating injuries, traumatic brain injuries and intracranial bleeding, and extremities amputations caused by propelled debris fragments.
Victims suffered from toxicity and thermal burns due to gas intoxication and fire. Although a limited number of patients suffered from burns, it is assumed that most burn victims were dead on arrival DOA. Some or combinations of these injuring mechanisms were experienced by the blast victims. The Beirut blast disaster produced enormous white and dark brown fumes covering a large portion of the city.
Emission of irritating white fumes and brown fumes characteristically occur during the decomposition of AN. In confinement, AN completely decomposes allowing for the reaction of the four gases to form water vapor, nitrogen, and toxic brown fumes mainly consisting of nitric oxides NOx.
Only one or two breaths of the NOx stream can cause severe toxicity. NO 2 is heavier than air, hence exposure can result in asphyxiation. Odor provides an overt warning for acute exposures. Compared to adults, exposed children may receive greater doses of NO 2 due to body size and proximity to ground level and the large surface area of their lungs NO 2 can damage the respiratory system in several different ways.
First, by its conversion into nitric and nitrous acids in the distal airways, damaging alveolar structure.
Secondly, by causing oxidative stress through generation of free radicals, which results in protein oxidation, lipid peroxidation, and cell membrane damage In addition, an indirect effect caused by NO 2 is the alteration of macrophage and immune functions, thereby increasing the risk of lung infections This possibly includes increased risk of COVID infection given that the Beirut blast took place during the ongoing pandemic.
The primary site of NOx toxicity usually involves the lower respiratory tract. At low concentrations, symptoms including abdominal pain, nausea, headache, fatigue, coughing, and difficulty breathing are common. In some cases, an asymptomatic period of up to 30 h in exposed subjects may be followed by bronchospasms and pulmonary edema.
In cases of an intense exposure, swelling of tissues in the throat and burns may occur, as well as obstruction of the upper respiratory airways The initial effect may also be followed by fibrous obstruction of the bronchioles several weeks later. Such late obstruction presents as a group of additional symptoms including fever and chills, coughing and bleeding in the lungs, cyanosis of the skin, shortness of breath, and in extreme cases a respiratory failure In addition, victims of inhalation may suffer from the reactive airways dysfunction syndrome RADS , even after an acute exposure.
Absorption of NOx into the circulation may lead to methemoglobunemia, a sensation of chest congestion, a dilated heart, and possibly circulatory collapse. The Beirut explosion also produced large amounts of particulate matter that remained suspended in air for days; this effect has probably impacted more people than any other blast pollutant.
Emitted PM may consist of sulfates, nitrates, ammonia, sodium chloride, black carbon, and mineral dust. It includes a complex mixture of organic and inorganic substances suspended in the air. Emitted particles with a diameter of around 10 microns or less PM 10 comprise blast demolition dust capable of affecting the upper respiratory airways. Those with a diameter of 2. Prolonged periods of exposure to respirable particulates PM 2. Exposed individuals with reactive airways disease may be at higher risk of illness in an environment with elevated PM 10 and PM 2.
The long-term environmental repercussions of the Beirut explosion remain unexplored. The impact of the AN explosion mushroom cloud smoke, rain precipitation 5 days following the blast, and the fire-water drainage require study. In the current case of the Beirut explosion, chemical release was quite rapid. The resulting toxic plumes were dispersed within 24 h and scattered into the atmosphere to below detectable limits.
Given the prevailing wind direction in Lebanon, most of the affected areas were located toward the Northeast, downwind of Ground Zero. In addition, toxic dust was deposited on surfaces and settled on the ground in areas downwind of the port and may have re-suspended in the air with activities during the recovery operations. AN is a plant nutrient, with low toxicity to aquatic life TLM 10— ppm , and is highly biodegradable, hence is not expected to bioconcentrate or accumulate in its original form, particularly that most of it had decomposed in the explosion.
On the other hand, the observed rainfall on Day 5 following the blast may have driven re-suspended particulates to runoff into the water supply system and may have dispersed in soil.
The impact on drinking water quality and potentially affected soils requires further investigation. At the same time, environmental and health concerns continue over chemical substances stored at the damaged port warehouses, including 9.
In addition, during additional preliminary site surveys conducted one week after the blast, the following substances were found at various warehouses at Port of Beirut: petroleum oils, calcium hypochlorite, benzoyl peroxide, hydrofluoric acids, in addition to other potential hazardous materials, some with insufficient labeling, or are unreachable due to building conditions. It is specifically designed to be used as an oxidizer in blasting agents.
Prilled AN is an acidic water-soluble chemical, with hygroscopic properties. Many studies have reported on the hazardous aspects of products containing AN 32 , The related hazards may be classified into three categories: fire, thermal decomposition, and explosion. While AN reacts with organic material, reducing agents, and metal powder, it is not combustible on its own. Nevertheless, its presence increases the intensity of an initiating fire.
According to its material safety data sheet MSDS , NitroprilTM storage requirements include that it be kept dry, away from an ignition or heat source and mainly stored in areas that are well-ventilated. The manufacturer warns users that an adjacent detonation or a major fire involves risk of explosion. Confinement of material can also result in detonation according to the product write out MSDS. Additional dynamics of the Beirut explosion remain uncertain so far.
The investigation, however, shows that one or more of these scenarios is likely to have occurred in the context of this explosion.
Moreover, in the case of fire, it is recommended by the manufacturer to, first, open up the storage area to provide maximum ventilation, and secondly, to evacuate all personnel to a minimum of 1, m away from the site to save first responders and prevent death. In the absence of an official report on the root causes of the explosion, we conducted a thorough review of the literature of previous AN incidents to help in gaining insights into the potential root causes of the Beirut disaster.
We retrieved information pertaining to AN tragic events that have occurred since AN blast precipitating factors were investigated including storage techniques confinement in massive piles , absence of adequate ventilation, chemical contamination mixture with incompatible materials , humidity sea air moisture , and exposure to an external thermal source ignition caused by fire or flames.
We further examined AN safety hazard and potential environmental and health implications of these AN incidents compared to the Beirut blast. Reviewing existing literature, we have identified top AN explosions in each country and compared them to other AN incidents.
Since , more than 30 AN tragic events occurred worldwide at industrial sites or during transportation 1 , 2 , 35 — We have selected the top AN explosion in each of these countries in terms of its weight and resulting fatalities.
Our analysis suggests that multiple interlinked factors typically result in AN detonation Table 1. Table 1. Characteristics for the top 6 most devastating ammonium nitrate explosions globally. Previous AN incidents confirm that uncontrolled fires were the leading root cause for the majority of AN detonation incidents 2 , 35 , 44 , Its biggest use is as a source of nitrogen for fertiliser, but it is also used to create explosives for mining.
That's because it's synthetic, made by reacting ammonia with nitric acid, he says. Ammonium nitrate is made all over the world and is relatively cheap to buy.
But storing it can be a problem, and it has been associated with serious industrial accidents in the past. On its own, ammonium nitrate is relatively safe to handle, says Prof Sella. However, if you have a large amount of material lying around for a long time it begins to decay.
This makes it more dangerous because if a fire reaches it, the chemical reaction will be much more intense. Videos from Beirut showed smoke billowing from a fire, and then a mushroom cloud following the blast. Here in Australia, we produce and import large amounts of ammonium nitrate, mostly for use in mining. It is made by combining ammonia gas with liquid nitric acid, which itself is made from ammonia.
Ammonium nitrate is classified as dangerous goods and all aspects of its use are tightly regulated. For decades, Australia has produced, stored and used ammonium nitrate without a major incident. This article was originally published on The Conversation.
Read the original article. Gabriel da Silva is a senior lecturer in chemical engineering at the University of Melbourne. Already a subscriber? Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue.
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