While the official narrative of the Lebanese authorities originally claimed that the cataclysmic blast in Beirut was a fireworks factory and then changing their tune calling it the result of ammonium nitrate, an Italian explosives expert believes otherwise.
Danilo Coppe, who has been called Italy’s top explosives expert, told Iranian journalist Heshmat Alavi that the red plume is indicative of lithium metal which is used as a propellant in military missiles.
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Italian explosives expert Danilo Coppe believes an ammo/explosives depot in #Beirut was the epicenter of the massive August 4 blast. The resulting orange cloud further confirms the existence of such a stock at the port.https://t.co/BO9iSth4Krpic.twitter.com/id086sN6YZ— Heshmat Alavi (@HeshmatAlavi) August 9, 2020
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“I don’t think there was that amount of ammonium nitrate [2,750 tons] in the port of Beirut, or that there was a fireworks depot. Judging from the videos, it seems more like an explosion of an armament warehouse,” Coppe explains.pic.twitter.com/ugxVrbw627— Heshmat Alavi (@HeshmatAlavi) August 9, 2020
Coppe then explains the holes in the ammonium nitrate theory saying: “First, the quantity: 2,700 tons would mean that someone built an Olympic size swimming pool and filled it with that substance,”
“From those photos it seems that it was far less Nitroprill in the warehouse than 2,750 tons. Conditions are typical for bag/bulk material storage in many places in the world. Wouldn’t be surprised that for six to seven years there, large quantity disappeared (stolen).”
Coppe added that: “The warehouse was over 100 meters long. It is not impossible that it contained those quantities & some documents seem to prove that the material was there for years… there should have been a catalyst, because otherwise it wouldn’t all have exploded together.”
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“The warehouse was over 100 meters long. It is not impossible that it contained those quantities & some documents seem to prove that the material was there for years… there should have been a catalyst, because otherwise it wouldn’t all have exploded together,” Coppe adds. pic.twitter.com/QgpadmFheu— Heshmat Alavi (@HeshmatAlavi) August 9, 2020
Coppe also pointed out that when ammonium nitrate explodes, the color is yellow which was not the case in the Beirut blast saying: “And then the ammonium nitrate, when it detonates, generates an unmistakable yellow cloud,” Coppe explains. In the Beirut blast, we clearly witnessed a brick orange/dark red cloud.”
