Ammonium nitrate that exploded in Beirut was Russian owned.

[Cattledog]

CBS evening news

[Sneederbunk]

1. Heavy emphasis on the word "was".

[Laelth]

3. I shouldn't laugh.

But that was funny.



-Laelth

[ProfessorGAC]

2. Confiscated In 2014

There was doubt the purpose was wholly agricultural. There was some other reason it was declared contraband, but I'm not recalling it.
That stuff sat there for 6 years. Geez, everybody may have forgotten about it.

[malaise]

4. No everyone did not forget it

There were people writing and warning about the danger of leaving it there.
FRANCE 24's correspondent Leila Molana-Allen reports that Beirut port and Lebanese customs officials said they sent letters to Lebanon's judiciary expressing concern over the warehoused ammonium nitrate that caused Tuesday's massive blast.

------------------
This happens when governments don't care about their citizens

[ProfessorGAC]

7. Good To Know

It wasn't even close to properly stored, either.
Any amount over 50#, is supposed to be stored in a blast locker.
Anything over 500# is supposed to be in a friable, floating roof bunker.
In either case, no permanent lighting, no combustible materials in construction, no flammables stored within 100 yards, etc., are allowed. True in countries all over the world.
They had it in an ordinary warehouse.
Really stupid.

[BGBD]

8. next to fireworks!

It was like Wil E Coyote was in charge of the operation.

[stillcool]

5. ship was owned by a businessman...

who was Russian. The nitrate was confiscated, and in that warehouse in Beirut since 2014. I don't understand what this connection is supposed to infer.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/08/05/explosive-fertilizer-confiscated-from-russian-businessmans-ship-linked-to-beirut-blast-mediazona-a71058

Lebanese authorities in 2014 confiscated 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate from a Moldovan ship called the Rhosus, the country’s LBCI television channel reported overnight, citing sources at a Supreme Defense Council meeting.

[magicarpet]

6. Russian ship and crew abandoned in Beirut, company files bankruptcy...

Cargo off loaded and stored in warehouse at the port area. This is the ammonium nitrate that exploded.

(snip)

Lebanese authorities in 2014 confiscated 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate from a Moldovan ship called the Rhosus, the country’s LBCI television channel reported overnight, citing sources at a Supreme Defense Council meeting. 

The Rhosus is owned by Igor Grechushkin, a Russian national and resident of Cyprus, Mediazona cited the ship’s crew members as saying.

The ship had been traveling from Georgia to Mozambique in 2013 when it experienced a malfunction and made an unscheduled stop in Beirut. Soon after, Grechushkin reportedly declared bankruptcy and "abandoned" the ship there, leaving its crew stranded on the vessel for months before the ammonium nitrate could be offloaded.

The ammonium nitrate had been stored in a warehouse in the port of Beirut since then. The MarineTraffic website last recorded the Rhosus’ location near this warehouse in 2014.

(end snip, more at source link below,)
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/08/05/explosive-fertilizer-confiscated-from-russian-businessmans-ship-linked-to-beirut-blast-mediazona-a71058

[mitch96]

9. I heard that when the ship had problems the cost to repair it was more than the nitrate was worth

So the ruskie cut and ran.. class act...
m