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Radwan Mortada wrote in the Al-Akhbar Al-Youm newspaper an investigation entitled: “The FBI and the Information Section: This is the“ only logic ”of what happened in the port of Beirut!
French experts were the first Western researchers to reach the port of Beirut after the Aug. 4 bombing. They arrived two days after the crime, at the request of the prosecutor, Judge Ghassan Oweidat. After about 10 days, they were joined by British investigators, and then others from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), with the approval of President Michel Aoun. Al-Akhbar obtained a summary of the minutes of the Americans’ meetings with the Lebanese investigators. In particular, the “foreigners” did not contribute much to the investigation, content to support the conclusions reached by the Lebanese investigators.
The judicial investigator in the port bombing, Judge Fadi Sawan, has not yet received the reports from the French, British and American experts who arrived in Lebanon to assist in the investigation of the explosion of the contents of pavilion number 12 in the port of Beirut on Aug 4, 2020 Western investigators finished what came and then left. They informed the judiciary and security services of preliminary estimates and findings for their examination of the crime scene, and promised detailed reports that are expected to be released in a few weeks. They have set a deadline of two months from their departure, which took place about two weeks ago. Al-Akhbar obtained a summary of the minutes of the meetings that experts from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation held with a Lebanese security agency. One of the meetings included explosives experts from the Information Branch and a member of the FBI team, explosives expert Christopher Riggopolos, accompanied by the official from the FBI office at the US Embassy in Beirut. A second meeting was held, with the attendance of another member of the FBI team.
The summaries of the records obtained by Al-Akhbar do not reveal a large contribution by the “FBI” to the investigations, insofar as the American investigators agreed with the conclusions reached by the Lebanese investigators, as well as their conclusions. In both meetings, Rigopoulos felt that the inactivity of the wheat had ensured that half of Beirut was protected from destruction, as it formed a veil that reverberated from the explosion. This was inferred from the fact that the beam of destruction behind the slings is much smaller than the beam in other directions. The American expert told Lebanese officials that he had contacted the Central Office in the United States of America, where his colleagues were conducting studies showing the presence of flammable materials such as fuel added to ammonium nitrate to convert it into the more explosive (Ammonium Nitrate Fuel Oil). In response to a question from Lebanese officials about their estimate of the blast force to determine the amount of explosive materials if it were 2755 tons, he replied that the prevailing belief that ammonium nitrate does not explode without other added materials is a false belief. Then asked about the ability of crackers to form the primary shock wave based on technical data according to which stacked firecrackers create a shock wave similar to RDX explosives, he answered that this is correct, revealing that flash powder that is included in the composition of the firecrackers creates this wave sufficient to detonate the ammonium nitrate in its bad state. The accumulation of nitrates was considered to lead to their explosion completely. The American expert referred to the Oklahoma City attack, in which ANFO explosives (ammonium nitrate with fuel) were used and the package was placed in an extended way, as well as the damage it caused, considering that it is similar to the way in which expands ammonium nitrate in Amber No. 12. Saw the shock wave The result of the explosion was released intermittently, which explains the twisting of the metals due to the assault wave.
During the meeting, the Lebanese officials provided a detailed explanation of the sequence of events, the start of maintenance work from the welding of the doors to the completion and the departure of the workers, then the fire department received a report from a fire inside the hangar and their arrival at the port and opened the door of the room, causing the fire to intensify as large amounts of oxygen entered. Until the explosion. The narration presented was enriched with photographs and videos that were circulating at that time.
Rigopoulos agreed with the sequence of events, linking them to the smoke emissions that appear in circulating videos of the explosion. When asked about the logic of the sequence of maintenance and welding work, then the fire broke out, causing the explosion, and whether the idea was sound or not, the American expert replied that that is the “only logic” to explain the facts and causes of the explosion. He claimed that the initial explosion was caused by the flow of oxygen from the air into the room, leading to a significant increase in fire and an explosion. The report indicated that this is evidenced by the increase in smoke after the fire was suffocating due to lack of oxygen. He mentioned that the intensification of the fire, the resulting increase in pressure and the increase in temperature led to the formation of a shock wave that detonated the ammonium nitrate. The American expert explained the effect of the blasting or thrust caused by the ammonium nitrate explosion, which caused huge reinforced concrete walls to overturn at a distance of more than 500 meters. He believed that the destructive explosives would have caused the walls to be demolished and crushed.
The metal parts that flew were not rocket parts, but blocks from Amber No. 12’s body.
Then he referred to the statements of citizens about the discovery of metal pieces that they thought were parts of rockets and military ammunition. Regarding the Lebanese investigators’ analysis of the explosion, he replied that it is correct and corresponds largely to their observations and analysis. However, Rigopoulos believed that the “FBI” team is still conducting studies and evaluations to determine the amount of materials that exploded, especially since they were not sure whether it was possible to determine whether some of the ammonium nitrate that was in flag number 12 of the port was burned or dispersed in the air by an act. He blew the blast as they replied that it was hard to tell but they did not believe the amount was complete. The American delegation expressed its conviction at the beginning that amber cannot accommodate the amount of 2755 tons of ammonium nitrate, but again pointed out that the nitrate bags are, and if they are placed one on top of the other as in the photographs that circulate, then the mentioned amount of nitrates can spread in an area not exceeding one third. Amber. Lebanese officials and American investigators also discussed the findings of the investigations and observations regarding the remaining materials within the room, including methanol, firecrackers, tires and others. The fifty kilograms of bags of ammonium nitrate that were found at the scene of the explosion were discussed. Riggopolos suggested that they could be stored in another room and then blown up close to the point of explosion as a result of the negative wave that followed the explosion, because they are still intact and not completely broken, and there is a small possibility. This would happen if it were stored in pavilion number 12.
At the last meeting, the US experts stated that they are preparing a research project to be used as a reference for such incidents in the future after obtaining approval from Washington.
1,844 people die worldwide in ammonium nitrate explosions
Dozens of catastrophic accidents caused by ammonium nitrate have been recorded in various parts of the world, resulting in the death of 1,844 people, in 104 years. In April 1916, a massive explosion shook the British town of Väversham, killing 120 people in a fire that exploded 150 tons of ammonium nitrate. In August 1918, a large explosion ripped through a warehouse containing 4,000 tons of ammonium nitrate in New Jersey, USA, but there were no casualties and losses were limited to the property. On July 26, 1921, 19 people were killed in Criwald, Germany, by the explosion of 30 tons of ammonium nitrate. In addition, 561 people were killed by the explosion of 4,500 tons of ammonium nitrate in the German town of Aubau in September of the same year. In April 1942, 189 people were killed by the explosion of 150 tons of ammonium nitrate in Tisandarlo, Belgium. In 1947 in the United States, a ship carrying 2,100 tons of ammonium nitrate burned down, causing a massive explosion that killed 581 people in Texas. This detonation caused what resembles an earthquake, with damage reaching a range of 64 km. That same year, 29 people died in Brest, France, when a ship carrying 330 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded.
There was also an accident in the United States of America caused by the explosion of a truck loaded with ammonium nitrate, which killed 14 people in Rosberg, Oregon. In 1988, a major explosion occurred in the US state of Kansas with an ammonium nitrate explosion that killed 6 people. In 1994, 14 people were killed by the explosion of several tons of ammonium nitrate in New Guinea. Also in the same year, 4 people were killed in the United States by an explosion of a quantity of ammonium nitrate in a US port. 22 people were also killed by the explosion of 22 tons of ammonium nitrate in Xingping, China. In Toulouse, France, 31 people were killed by an explosion of about 300 tons of ammonium nitrate in 2001. There were also two explosions in Spain caused by ammonium nitrate, one of which caused no casualties, while two people died in the second. explosion. In 2004, two incidents of the same type were recorded. In Romania, 18 people were killed in the explosion of twenty tons of the same materials. 162 people died in North Korea. In 2007, 40 people died in Mexico in an ammonium nitrate explosion. Additionally, 15 people died in a fire that caused an ammonium nitrate store to explode in West Texas, USA.
This information was contained in a study attached by the “Baroudi Law Firm” in its correspondence to the Director General of Land and Maritime Transport Abdul Hafeez Al-Qaisi, four months after the docking of the Roussous ship in Beirut (2013), loaded with 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate, to warn of the danger of this substance and accidents. The catastrophe it caused in several countries of the world during the last century.
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